THE former Furness MP hopes there will be a ‘screeching U-turn’ from the government to proposed changes to inheritance tax.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced in the budget that from April 2026 inherited agricultural assets worth more than £1 million, which were previously exempt, will have to pay inheritance tax at a 20 per cent rate.

The government said the tax could be paid over 10-year instalments with the Treasury estimating the proposed changes will raise £520 million.

Ms Reeves said: “This will ensure we continue to protect small family farms, with three quarters of claims unaffected by these changes.”

On November 19 more than 10,000 farmers and campaigners, including former Tory MP Simon Fell, travelled to London to protest against the proposed changes to inheritance tax.

Mr Fell said: “I was very proud to join farmers from Cumbria and across the UK as they protested against the family farm tax in London.

“It was a miserable day: cold, wet and bitter. But that didn’t show in the resolve of the families there – all wanting to make the point that the farms all about us are essential to food supply, to local economies, and to the natural environment that we care about so much.

“And that to hammer them with Labour’s planned massive hike in inheritance tax will be to force them to sell up after a farmer dies.”

NFU (National Farmers’ Union) president Tom Bradshaw said the changes are an ‘extraordinary’ betrayal of farmers by the government.

Mr Fell added: “In short order we could see an end to family farming, and the wonderful landscapes of Cumbria, Lancashire, and Britain as a whole broken up.

“It will also do for tenant farmers – often the first and only route for young farmers to get into the profession, and it will make us less secure as a result.

“I hope that we are about to see a screeching U-turn from Labour on these brutal plans. To stick with the family farm tax would be to condemn farming when we should be bolstering it, making us reliant on food grown overseas. They need to think again.”

MP for Barrow and Furness Michelle Scrogham said she has met with local farmers and NFU representatives this week.

Mrs Scrogham added: “I listened to their concerns about the inheritance tax changes and the future of farming, and I’ve been feeding back their concerns to ministers.

“I will be continuing to have regular meetings with farmers to make sure their voices and any problems are well understood in Westminster.”