My stand on inheritance tax relief for farmers
This is the public statement I gave to the Cumberland News following my suspension from the Labour Party for voting against a budget Resolution to implement changes to agricultural property relief:
“I keep my word. When I campaigned to be an MP, I promised farmers - based on public commitments made by the then Shadow Secretary of State when Labour were in opposition -that we would not remove Agricultural Property Relief from family farms. Since the announcement last year, I have sat at farmers’ tables, listened to their stories, and heard how this change could spell the end of farming for some families. I have written repeatedly to the farming minister, sharing real examples from Penrith and Solway of what this means in practice. And whatever the arguments for or against, I have never got over the simple fact that to support the measure would be to break a promise. That is why I voted against it, and why I have had the Labour whip removed.
I officially joined the Labour Party in 2003 because I believed that we live in a world where the system is rigged against ordinary people, and the Labour instinct is to disrupt and change this. Losing the Labour whip is heartbreaking—I’m gutted—but it does not change me, or my resolve. It was my Labour values that got me into trouble, and it will be my Labour values that see me back in my party.
I am deeply grateful for the support I have received from the Cumbrian farming community, and overwhelmed by the messages of solidarity. To farmers across the country I say: keep going, keep pushing—the sun has not set yet, and neither has the fight for justice.”
