‘Nail in the coffin’: family farmers respond to inheritance tax changes

Rachel Reeves announced in her budget that after April 2026 heirs will pay tax when farms are passed on

For more than 100 years, the family of 56-year-old Andrew Smith has had a cattle farm on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. Smith, who now runs the farm, sees chancellor Rachel Reeves's changes to inheritance tax rules as a grave betrayal of British farmers.

Working with his three sons, the farm produces about 2,000 sheep and 30 to 40 cows each year, yet makes no profit", he says. We just pay the bills."