An Oxfordshire MP said plans to cut inheritance tax relief for farmers could “ring the death knell for family farming” as he joined calls for the government to reverse their plans.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the cuts in the 2024 Budget, which was delivered at the end of October.

Now Liberal Democrat MP for Henley and Thame, Freddie van Mierlo, has criticised the governments’ decision at a rural affairs debate in Parliament on Monday, November 11, echoing calls from fellow Liberal Democrat MPs.

READ MORE: Oxford asylum seeker jailed for 10 years after raping teenager

He said: “People in rural areas like here in Henley and Thame have been clobbered through years of Conservative neglect and economic vandalism.

“That is what makes the government’s decision to push ahead with their disastrous family farm tax so inexplicable.

“Farmers are deeply worried that these proposals could ring the death knell for family farming in this rural constituency.

“The Chancellor needs to urgently reverse these plans or risk a lost generation of local farmers.

“I will fight these changes every step of the way and continue to pressure the government to get our farmers the support they deserve.”

Mr van Mierlo visited local farms in his constituency and spoke to farmers affected by the tax hike.

In a video posted publicly by Mr van Mierlo, local farmer David Passmore said: “Farming brings so much, not only are we producing food for the nation, but we also love what we’re doing.

“People want food grown. They want it grown locally or they want it grown in the county.

“It’s a massively important.

“The consequences of what goes on in London have big implications in the countryside, so hopefully we’ve made [people] more aware

Analysis by the Liberal Democrats has found that 96 farms in Henley and Thame could be at risk of being affected by the changes to inheritance tax relief.

Fellow Oxfordshire Lib Dem MP Olly Glover also called on the government to reverse the plans.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) is holding a mass protest in London today (Tuesday, November 19) against the governments’ cuts which Jeremy Clarkson has attended. 

Children on toy tractors during a farmers protest in central London Children on toy tractors during a farmers protest in central London (Image: Gareth Fuller/PA)Environment Secretary Steve Reed has insisted only a few hundred farms would be impacted, rather than the tens of thousands claimed by critics of the inheritance tax change.

And he denied that Labour, which has many more MPs in rural areas since the general election, did not understand the countryside.

He said: “This Labour Government has just allocated £5 billion to support sustainable food production in the UK.

“That’s the biggest budget of that kind in our country’s history and it shows that we’re backing farmers.

“This is a government on their side and the changes to inheritance tax will affect only around 500 farms. The vast majority of farmers will pay nothing more.”