SOMERSET MPs have expressed their concerns over the 'tractor tax' imposed on family farms after the recent Autumn Budget. 

Changes to Inheritance Tax were announced in the Autumn Budget and are set to take effect on April 6, 2026. The policy introduces a 20% tax on agricultural assets over £1 million. 

Today (November 19), farmers and agricultural workers are descending on London to protest the changes and fight for the future of farming. 

READ MORE: All information about two farming rally's in London tomorrow

READ MORE: South West Farmer launches campaign to stop family farm tax

Here's what Somerset MPs had to say on the family farm tax: 

Ashley Fox 

Ashley Fox, MP for Bridgwater, met with representatives from the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) last week to discuss the potential impacts on local farmers in Somerset.

One fourth-generation farmer shared with Ashley that he would likely need to sell significant portions of his land just to meet the tax burden. "Farming is about growing food and feeding people," the farmer noted, "not about profit, but a way of life."

Speaking about the proposed changes to Inheritance Tax, Ashley Fox MP said: “Labour’s attack on family farms in the Budget is disastrous for farming, rural communities and our economy. These changes threaten to undermine the UK’s food security.”

Mr Fox fears that the changes could have such an impact that family farms in Somerset will be sold off to cover any subsequent tax bill.

He continued: "Thousands of farms across Somerset, and the UK, will be impacted by this cruel tax regime, the effects of which will be felt for decades to come.”

In the Autumn Budget 2024, the Labour government maintained that the changes to Inheritance Tax were necessary to make the Inheritance tax system fairer, by restricting the generosity of agricultural property relief and business property relief for the wealthiest estates.

Bridgwater’s MP has expressed his scepticism of this justification. He added: “The average farm size and land values mean this tax will impact many small to medium-sized family farms, not just large estates. This measure shows a lack of understanding of farming and its economic realities.”

Mr Fox has said he will continue to urge the government to reconsider the policy, which he believes undermines the viability of family farming across Somerset and the UK.

Gideon Amos

THE MP for Taunton and Wellington has also expressed his concerns, stating that the government 'must scrap this disastrous 'tractor tax' or risk ringing the death knell for family farms'. 

Mr Amos added: “For years, our local farmers have been forced to endure botched trade deals and cuts to their incomes due to the Conservative Party’s shameful neglect of rural communities.

“The new government’s tax hike will come as yet another hammer blow for farmers.

“The Chancellor should urgently reverse course, scrap the ‘tractor tax’ and take up the Liberal Democrat proposals to give farmers an additional £1 billion a year in support.”

Sarah Dyke 

Glastonbury and Somerton MP, Sarah Dyke, shared a story about Ian - a farmer who farms beef and grows cider apples in Glastonbury. 

"Now 74, he has worked his entire life to buy back his family’s 100-acre farm," she said.

"He has finally done it, but the Government’s changes to the APR will soon tear it apart again, undoing his life’s work and leaving the farm unviable.

“The farming sector has experienced one shock after the other in recent years, from Brexit to energy prices, the war in Ukraine, rising feed prices, the Conservatives’ terrible trade deals and mismanagement of the economy, and the botched transition from the basic payment scheme to the environmental land management schemes. Farming is in crisis, and here we are yet again with a misguided policy that hits the future sustainability of family-run farms."

Ms Dyke said it will not be 'wealthy landowners' that suffer, but it will be the farming families who will be 'barely able to make a living'. 

She added: “The Government must abolish this family farm tax or, at the very least, raise the threshold to limit its impact on those who should not have to and cannot afford to bear the brunt. Its claim that 75% of farms will be unaffected relies on the assumption that every farmer is married and will benefit from twice the basic allowance. Modern family farms are not always run by traditional families, so many will not be able to take advantage of the extra relief.”

Anna Sabine 

MP for Frome and East Somerset, Anna Sabine, said the changes could affect 144 farms in her constituency. 

She has called on the government to scrap the tax and put forward an additional £1billion a year to support the farming community. 

“Many of the farmers in Somerset are generational and have had their land and businesses passed down to them from parent to child," she said.

"This tax could be disastrous for these farmers that have been forced to endure years of cuts to their incomes and botched trade deals from the Conservative government.

“This proposed tax hike will come as another blow to the rural community that has been consistently ignored by Conservative Governments and Labour must not fall into the same pattern of neglect when it comes to our rural industries.”

What the government has said

The government are standing by their figures and say that around three quarters of farmers will pay nothing in inheritance tax. 

Speaking to reporters on the way to the G20 summit in Brazil, the Prime Minister said: “Obviously, there’s an issue around inheritance tax and I do understand the concern.

“But for a typical case, which is parents with a farm they want to pass on to one of their children, by the time you’ve taken into account not only the exemption for the farm property itself, but also the exemption for spouse to spouse, then parent to child, it’s £3 million before any inheritance tax will be payable.

“That’s why I am absolutely confident the vast majority of farms and farmers will not be affected by this.”