Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch vows to reverse ‘immoral and cruel’ family farm tax during visit to Lincolnshire Show

The leader of the Conservative Party has vowed to reverse the family farm tax, arguing it has discouraged investment in farming.

During a visit to the 140th Lincolnshire Show today (Thursday, June 19), Kemi Badenoch promised to scrap the controversial policy, which she described as “cruel and immoral”.

Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves outlined changes to inheritance tax rules in her autumn budget, specifically affecting Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief on farmland and business assets.

Previously, farmland was largely exempt under APR, but from April 2026, agricultural assets worth over £1 million will be subject to a 20% tax.

The policy has caused outrage within the farming community across Lincolnshire, with many farmers saying they will be forced to sell some of their land to avoid passing on large tax bills to the next generation.

“We are going to reverse the family farm tax. This is an immoral and cruel policy,” Mrs Badenoch told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

“It is destroying farming in our country. It’s stopping the next generation of farmers from coming through. This is one of the things which is going to harm food security.”

The Tory leader, who took over from former PM Rishi Sunak last November, said she was visiting the county show - which celebrates the area’s agricultural heritage - to try to win back trust with farmers following a significant defeat to Labour at last year’s general election.

She added that the family farm tax will have a ‘knock-on effect’ on food security in Lincolnshire and beyond.

She added: “Labour does a lot of things, hoping that it will raise money, but they don’t understand that people change their behaviour. Many people are no longer investing in their farms. It’s having a knock on effect on supplies of machinery for example.”

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