Welsh Labour MPs slammed over vote backing inheritance tax changes for farmers

Welsh Labour MPs have come under fire after the UK Government voted through controversial reforms to inheritance tax that farming unions, opposition parties and rural campaigners warn will hit Welsh family farms particularly hard.

In a Commons vote on Tuesday night, 23 of Wales’s 27 Labour MPs backed the changes, which alter agricultural property relief and increase tax liabilities on inherited and family-run farms. The remaining four abstained or were absent.

Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats opposed the measure; the Conservatives no longer have MPs in Wales.

The reforms, which impose a new tax structure on inherited agricultural land and businesses above £1 million, have been condemned by farming groups who argue Wales will be disproportionately affected because of its high concentration of small and medium-sized family farms.

Agriculture and the wider Welsh food and drink sector supports over 228,000 jobs—around 17% of the national workforce—and generates £24bn in turnover annually. Rural organisations warn that higher tax burdens could leave farming families unable to meet liabilities without selling land or assets, accelerating consolidation, weakening supply chains and threatening the long-term viability of local food production.

There are also cultural implications. Around 43% of agricultural workers in Wales speak Welsh, compared to 17.8% of the wider population. Campaigners fear that measures which intensify rural depopulation will weaken the everyday use of the language in heartland communities.

‘Waved through’

The Welsh Liberal Democrats said Welsh Labour MPs had “waved through” measures that will “make it harder for family farms to survive”.

Party spokesperson David Chadwick, MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe, said: “Family farms are the backbone of rural Wales economically, socially and culturally. By voting through this damaging tax, Welsh Labour MPs have turned their backs on the very communities they claim to represent.”

He warned the changes would increase pressure on farmers already facing rising costs, volatile markets and post-Brexit uncertainty.

Plaid Cymru also criticised Labour’s approach, arguing that the vote ignored the findings of a cross-party Welsh Affairs Committee report, which urged a pause so that a Wales-specific impact assessment could be carried out.

Dissent

The debate saw dissent from within Labour ranks. Notably, Penrith and Solway MP Markus Campbell-Savours rebelled, voting against the measure, telling MPs that many farmers had been reassured during the election campaign that agricultural property relief would remain untouched.

Treasury Minister James Murray defended the changes as “a fair way forward”, noting the Budget’s provision for married couples to transfer unused allowances.

But MPs across the chamber raised fears that the reforms do little to clamp down on wealthy individuals using farmland to minimise tax, while placing disproportionate pressure on working farmers operating on tight margins.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) had urged Labour MPs to abstain, warning that without changes the policy would “trap the most vulnerable members of our community”.

How Welsh Labour MPs voted

Welsh Labour MPs voting for the inheritance tax changes:

Alex Barros-Curtis – Cardiff West

Torsten Bell – Swansea West

Chris Bryant – Rhondda and Ogmore

Alex Davies-Jones – Pontypridd

Stephen Doughty – Cardiff South and Penarth

Chris Evans – Caerphilly

Catherine Fookes – Monmouthshire

Gill German – Clwyd North

Becky Gittins – Clwyd East

Nia Griffith – Llanelli

Carolyn Harris – Neath and Swansea East

Claire Hughes – Bangor Aberconwy

Gerald Jones – Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare

Ruth Jones – Newport West and Islwyn

Stephen Kinnock – Aberafan Maesteg

Anna McMorrin – Cardiff North

Jessica Morden – Newport East

Kanishka Narayan – Vale of Glamorgan

Andrew Ranger – Wrexham

Nick Smith – Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney

Jo Stevens – Cardiff East

Mark Tami – Alyn and Deeside

Nick Thomas-Symonds – Torfaen

Abstained / not present:

Tonia Antoniazzi – Gower

Chris Elmore – Bridgend

Henry Tufnell – Mid and South Pembrokeshire

Steve Witherden – Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr