Victoria Atkins

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for granting this first urgent question of 2026—and what a way to open the new year, with yet another Government U-turn. But where is the Chancellor of the Exchequer? This is her tax and her U-turn, and she should explain why she did not announce this at the Budget. Over the past 14 months, farmers, rural communities and the Conservatives have campaigned relentlessly in and out of Westminster against these vindictive taxes. This U-turn acknowledges what farmers have been telling the Government from day one: Ministers have got their maths badly wrong, and many more farms and family businesses will be broken up as a result of Labour’s higher taxes. Does the Minister accept that? Why have the Government U-turned? Does it have anything to do with the recent Labour Back-Bench rebellion? Can the Minister tell the House how many family farms and non-farming family businesses will still have to pay this death tax? Are tenant farmers included, given that the now Chief Secretary to the Treasury admitted at the time that 14,000 tenant farmers were missed out of the Government’s original calculations? Can the Minister also confirm whether he signed the tax information and impact note for this U-turn before the Budget? This partial U-turn does not save every family farm and family business. Indeed, for many the U-turn simply comes too late; we have seen record farm closures under this Government, and it has taken a great personal toll on many families. Given the pain, anguish, distress and, in some cases, sorrow that this cruel tax has caused families up and down the country, will the Minister now have the good grace to apologise on behalf of the Government to farmers and family business owners?