The union will use the platform of this week’s Royal Welsh Winter Fair to further raise the profile of the severe consequences facing agricultural businesses should UK Government continue to progress its proposals, despite calls for a pause in the implementation of its policy.
Poignant message
Over the course of the two-day Royal Welsh Winter Fair – one of Europe’s largest prime stock events – NFU Cymru will be highlighting the varied impacts of the changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) through a series of heartfelt personal accounts from affected families across Wales. This work will culminate with a clear, poignant message delivered by Royal Welsh Winter Fair-goers to UK Government on the second day of the event (Tuesday 25 November), which falls on the eve of the Autumn Budget announcement.
This week’s planned campaigning pushing for late changes to the proposals follows more than 12 months of lobbying by the union against the family farm tax. Over the course of the last year we have also seen a growing body of evidence and analysis expressing real disquiet with the changes to IHT and earlier this month, the House of Commons’ Welsh Affairs Committee released a report following its inquiry into Farming in Wales in 2025: Challenges and Opportunities. The report examined the UK Government’s handling of the inheritance tax reform proposals and challenged the Treasury’s assessment of the number of farms likely to be affected by the inheritance tax policy changes. The cross-party committee has called for a pause in the implementation of the policy to enable a full impact assessment of the effect on Welsh farming. Since the publication of the committee’s report, a growing number of MPs – on both sides of Offa’s Dyke – have fed back further concerns to Treasury and UK Government which echo the fears of thousands of farming families across the UK.
“Within our own industry, I’ve heard countless tales of fear, anxiety, frustration and despair over the last 12 months; stories that haunt you long after leaving a members’ farm or closing a meeting. I’ve witnessed even the most stoic farmers reduced to tears at the prospect of their farm’s multi-generational history ending on their watch."
Aled Jones, NFU Cymru President
Mounting body of evidence
Speaking ahead of the Royal Welsh Winter Fair, NFU Cymru President Aled Jones said: “There is a mounting body of evidence, from an array of reliable sources, corroborating our position that the changes announced in last Autumn’s Budget will signal disaster for family farms. Just last week we saw over 100 UK retail and trade bodies from the food and farming supply chain join our calls for a rethink of these ill-advised plans. Earlier this year, we also saw the independent UK-based research centre CenTax (Centre for the Analysis of Taxation) make the case that changes to the policy are needed to deliver the government’s stated intentions, proposing a number of amendments.
'Fear, anxiety, frustration and despair'
“Within our own industry, I’ve heard countless tales of fear, anxiety, frustration and despair over the last 12 months; stories that haunt you long after leaving a members’ farm or closing a meeting. I’ve witnessed even the most stoic farmers reduced to tears at the prospect of their farm’s multi-generational history ending on their watch. I’ve seen young farmers, bereft of confidence, now having to contemplate which parcel of land or core business asset they must sell – permanently handicapping their farming operation - to fund a mammoth and unexpected tax bill. I’ve heard older farmers consider unthinkable sacrifices to protect their family’s livelihood… Even after a year of relentless lobbying on this unprecedented issue, it still bewilders me that any government – no matter its broader political and fiscal challenges – could consider imposing a policy that is likely to deliver such a high degree of damage to small family businesses.
“We are grateful to those Welsh MPs who have listened to the worries put forward by their constituents, as well as the cross-party group of MPs on the Welsh Affairs Committee who have acted upon the evidence they were presented with. When you add this to the views expressed by Welsh Government that it does not want to see the incoming SFS undermined by changes to inheritance tax, I would say the voice of disquiet, caution and concern from Wales on this issue can be heard louder now than ever before.
“With the Royal Welsh Winter Fair being held in the shadow of this year’s Autumn Budget announcement – and 12 months on since the original budget announcement that set these devastating proposals in motion - the UK Government must follow the evidence and pause this process to better examine the alternatives. Even at this eleventh hour, it is not too late for the government to work with us to revise these proposals and avoid the irreversible harm caused by this policy to Welsh agriculture and the cultural fabric of rural Wales.”