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Labour MP Markus Campbell-Savours has been suspended after rebelling against the government’s plans to impose an inheritance tax on farmers.
Dozens of Labour MPs abstained from the Commons vote, while backbencher Mr Campbell-Savours voted against the measures, expressing “deep concerns” about the impact on farmers.
Mr Campbell-Savours was informed he had had the whip removed by chief whip Jonathan Reynolds on Wednesday, according to a Labour source.
It came after the National Farming Union (NFU) called on Labour MPs to abstain from the vote and “show that they truly back the working people of the countryside”.
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Keir Starmer has faced criticism for the decision to impose inheritance tax on farmers (PA)
Backbenchers argued that most farmers are “not wealthy land barons” and said the measure failed to tackle “abuse by the celebrities and the billionaires” who buy farmland to avoid paying a full inheritance tax bill.
But Treasury minister James Murray insisted changes the government made in the Budget are a “fair way forward”.
MPs voted in support of the government’s plans, with 327 votes to 182 – a majority of 145.
Last month, four Labour MPs – Neil Duncan-Jordan, Chris Hinchliff, Brian Leishman and Rachael Maskell – had the whip restored after they had been suspended for repeatedly rebelling against the government.
The backbenchers were suspended after all four voted against Labour’s benefits reforms as part of a wider rebellion that saw the changes postponed in July. At the time, Ms Maskell, MP for York Central, claimed she had been suspended for “standing up for my constituents” over the plans.
Speaking in the Commons Budget debate on Tuesday, outlining why he could not support the government, Mr Campbell-Savours said: “There remain deep concerns about the proposed changes to agricultural property relief (APR).
“Members across the House have made the case against these changes, changes which leave many, not least elderly farmers, yet to make arrangements to transfer assets, devastated at the impact on their family farms.
“Many farmers feared this was coming. Some transferred in advance. Others contacted Labour candidates who reassured them, based on public commitments from the then shadow secretary of state for Defra, that APR would not be touched.
“I was one of those Labour candidates, and it’s for that reason I’ll be voting against the Budget resolution enabling these changes.”
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Farmers have protested in Westminster, London, over the changes to inheritance tax rules in the Budget (PA)
Mr Campbell-Savours said he wanted to be able to walk around his community “knowing I did all I could for them”, and could not do so if he broke his word.
In the Budget, the chancellor announced that any of a £1m APR and business property relief allowance that goes unused will be transferable between spouses and civil partners.
However, the move has not stopped criticism from the farming community, which has fiercely opposed the changes since they were proposed in last year’s Budget, with the introduction of a 20 per cent rate on agricultural land and businesses worth more than £1m.
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Labour MP Markus Campbell-Savours has been suspended by the party for voting against the Tractor Tax (Markus Campbell-Savours/Labour)
Samantha Niblett, Labour MP for South Derbyshire, welcomed concessions for married couples in the Budget but said: “I do plead with the government to look again at APR inheritance tax. Most farmers are not wealthy land barons; they live hand to mouth on tiny, sometimes non-existent profit margins. Many were explicitly advised not to hand over their farm to children, [but] now face enormous unexpected tax bills.”
Terry Jermy, Labour MP for South West Norfolk, said Ms Reeves’s Budget has failed to tackle the “abuse by the celebrities and the billionaires” who buy farmland to avoid paying a full inheritance tax bill.
Labour MP for North East Hertfordshire, Chris Hinchliff, asked Treasury minister James Murray whether the government would “take immediate action” if changes to agricultural property relief led to farm closures.
Ahead of the vote, NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “Without change, the family farm tax will trap the most vulnerable members of our community, the elderly and terminally ill, with no ability to plan. It’s inhumane and it’s cruel.”
