NFU Cymru has gathered farmers and rural businesses at Pembrokeshire County Show today (Wednesday, August 20) to emphasise the ripple effect of the UK Government’s damaging inheritance tax reforms.

The union convened a meeting on the opening day of the event on the Haverfordwest Showground to highlight that while the changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) will devastate many farming businesses, the impacts of the policy reach much further than the farm gate.

Rural companies in Pembrokeshire are also voicing their fears that a lack of industry confidence will hinder reinvestment, which will in turn have a knock-on effect in the wider business community among firms and organisations whose income is reliant on farmers’ custom with local businesses.

NFU Cymru has vociferously fought against the UK Government’s planned changes to inheritance tax since last year’s autumn budget announcement.

Today NFU Cymru Deputy President Abi Reader insisted the UK Government must urgently reconsider the impact of its proposals, which she said will harm the most vulnerable farming families in Wales.

Among those attending the meeting was Janet Cornock, 71, who ran a successful dairy herd with her late husband, Gwilym, before his passing in 2018 at the age of just 67.

She now farms the Fishguard enterprise in partnership with her son, James, and his family, with the hope that one day the farm will be passed on for her grandchildren to continue Gwilym’s farming legacy.

However, that prospect has been thrust into severe doubt following the tax bill which will arise from the UK Labour government’s U-turn on a pre-General Election commitment not to alter APR2, placing the long-term future of the farm, and many like it, in jeopardy.

Janet told today’s meeting: “Gwilym and I worked hard all our lives and the farm has meant everything to us. We rarely holidayed and rather than spending money on ourselves, we would reinvest it in the business for the children’s future, to pass it on to them.

“We have always been careful with our finances and we’ve paid a significant amount of tax each year on our earnings, as you would expect. But I am so scared about the idea of the family farm tax and what it will do to the farm – I lie awake at night and my heart is pounding.”

Janet estimates that over the last three months her farm has bought goods and services from over 40 local businesses. She says that the family farm tax will ‘kill reinvestment’ and will harm those companies who routinely generate income from viable farm businesses.

NFU Cymru Deputy President Abi Reader said: “Farmers are in despair that the UK Government is pushing on with its devastating tax raid on small family farms that have, over generations, been the cultural lifeblood of their local communities, driven the local economy and put food on people’s tables. What makes me especially angry is that this flawed policy is going to harm the elderly, the infirm and those who have suffered personal tragedy – many of whom are unable to get their complicated tax affairs in order to meet a bill they could not have planned for.

“These people have dedicated their lives to feeding the nation whilst caring for the countryside. Now, in return, their families will be financially punished and left to foot a tax bill that will, in many cases, render their businesses unviable and stifle any hopes of investment and innovation.

“Farms are unique businesses. The value of our businesses is locked up in our assets and that value is not realised without selling off those assets, which is always at the detriment of the farm’s viability. Most of these businesses are not generating an income that can pay a monumental tax bill, even over a 10-year period. When farmers have made a profit they have typically re-invested that money into the farm business, they simply do not have the cash at hand to pay a tax which less than two years ago they were assured they wouldn’t have to pay.

“We acknowledge the UK Government’s desire to bear down on the practice of purchasing agricultural land as a tax efficient investment by individuals who have no intention of farming the land. However, we have evidenced to UK Government time and again that this ill-thought-out policy will see small family farms become the collateral damage for a policy that returns a negligible amount to the public purse.

“The fears of thousands of families have not been adequately addressed by UK Government and that, to me, is unacceptable. We are urgently calling on the Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stephens MP, the highest elected Welsh member of the UK Government, to meet with us to find a solution that avoids the catastrophic damage lying around the corner for our family farms.”