Rural campaigners are recruiting members of the public to support British farmers affected by the latest government budget cuts by using a new platform that emails MPs.
The Countryside Alliance created the ‘stop the family farm tax’ online lobby tool to streamline communication and simplify contacting officials. It allows members of the public to send emails directly to the inbox of their MPs.
The tool urges politicians to lobby the chancellor to reverse her controversial decision regarding inheritance tax (IHT), as well as the tax on double cab pickups.
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Over 2000 people have used the platform since its launch, contacting a wide range of MPs including 50 newly elected rural members.
The campaigning group's standard email warns that the maiden Labour budget has dealt a 'devastating blow' to many family farms.
The draft email also says: "Scrapping inheritance tax relief on farmland and taxing twin cab pickups are just two of the many measures that will hit farmers hard.
“Our countryside is more than just landscapes - it contributes towards the nation’s food supply, its economy and its well-being.
"But the budget proposals threaten the very fabric of rural life by putting family farms and hardworking communities at risk.”
Farm leaders have warned that changes made to agricultural property relief (APR) could deal a devastating blow to family farms.
At a time when farms are already stretch experts claim that the addition of 20% IHT could make it impossible for young farmers to keep farming the land their relations have for generations.
The email proceeds, stating that this change “risks stripping rural Britain of its lifeblood: the small, family-run farms that sustain our rural communities and food security".
The proposed changes to the tax classification of double-cab pickups have also come under scrutiny, given their importance to those working the land, as they are set to be taxed at the same rate as company cars from April 2025.
This could see taxes raise by 200%, a staggering increase and one that the Countryside Alliance claim many would not be able to afford.
It warns that without 'immediate intervention' from elected officials, these policies risk "irreparable harm to the livelihoods of countless hardworking farmers and the future of rural communities."
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