The Defra Secretary has said farmers are 'wrong' over the budget's inheritance tax changes, as the government continues to double down on its controversial decision.
Steve Reed's comments came as over 10,000 farmers converged on central London on Tuesday (19 November) to rally against the 20% inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1m.
According to industry figures, over 70,000 farms would be impacted, but the government has said that only 500 out of the UK's circa 210,000 farms would be affected.
Speaking at a cross-party parliamentary committee on Tuesday as thousands of farmers protested in the capital, Mr Reed dismissed the industry's figures.
"Assuming these projections from HMRC, validated by the OBR, on their effects are correct, then many [farmers] are probably, happily, are wrong," he said.
"There are things that they can do to plan their tax affairs as most businesses or asset owners would do to limit their liability."
He added that the "best thing to do is for farmers to take professional tax advice and manage their tax affairs appropriately".
The Defra Secretary also suggested farmers should pass down their farms to their children seven years before they die to avoid inheritance tax entirely.
"We inherited a £22bn black hole from the previous government, and the previous chancellor of the exchequer covered the scale of that problem up," Mr Reed continued.
"So none of us knew how difficult the problem would be when we were coming into government."
He added that it was "only right" to urge the "wealthiest landowners and the biggest farms to pay their fair share".
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also provided comments on the issue yesterday while attending the G20 summit in Brazil.
He said he understood the concerns of farmers and "wants to support" them, but stressed that the "vast majority of farms, would be unaffected".
Sir Keir explained that the autumn budget would help the government invest in other areas which affected farming and rural communities, such as hospitals, schools and housing.
He added that the government pledged £5 billion over two years for "farming and food sustainability".
"That's hugely important for farmers, an additional amount for flooding that impacts them and on disease outbreak," the prime minister said.
Asked if government would change the tax proposals, he said: "It's very important for me to keep making the case that it's only farms and assets over £3m in a typical case of parents wanting to pass on to their children."
Tuesday's mass rally commenced alongside a separate "mass lobby of MPs" event, which was organised by the NFU and attended by 1,800 farmers.
There, farmers asked their MPs to "look them in the eye" and tell them whether they support changes outlined in the recent budget.
At Church House, Tom Bradshaw, the NFU president, warned that there "has never been a budget this bad for farming in my lifetime".
“We know what this means for our families, for our children, for our future. We know the horrendous pressure it is putting on older farmers worried sick," he said.
"It’s wrong on every level and, just as bad, it won’t achieve what ministers want it to anyway."
