A Battle Won, But the War Continues

The Government's recent announcement to increase the Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief thresholds to £2.5 million—effectively £5 million for married couples—represents a partial victory, but make no mistake: this fight is far from over.

I want to begin by thanking our members. The climbdown we've secured is a direct result of your tireless advocacy, your meetings with MPs, and your willingness to share the real-world impact these proposals would have on family farms and rural businesses. Your voices have been heard, and they've made a difference.

This threshold increase will undoubtedly provide relief. Many CLA members will now be taken out of Inheritance Tax liability altogether, whilst others will see the acute financial pain significantly eased. For those businesses, this represents breathing space—an opportunity to continue the vital work of food production, environmental stewardship, and rural employment that has sustained our countryside for generations.

However, we must be clear-eyed about what this concession doesn't achieve. For businesses with larger land holdings, diverse operations, or significant investment in expensive machinery and infrastructure, this change only helps in a limited way. The policy may now be slightly less dreadful, but it remains fundamentally bad and deeply damaging to the UK economy. It continues to threaten the viability of productive family businesses, undermines long-term investment in rural Britain, and sends entirely the wrong signal about the value we place on multi-generational enterprise.

That's why the CLA will not rest. We will continue fighting these changes until they are reversed in full. Next week, as the Finance Bill enters committee stage, we will be proposing further amendments to limit the damage. Whilst we're realistic about the chances of success in the current parliamentary arithmetic, every argument we make, every case we present, builds the evidence base for future change.

Looking ahead, we will work relentlessly to ensure that all those parties who promised to reverse these reforms in full honour that commitment. These promises must appear in manifestos with crystal-clear pledges to reverse the policy within the first year of any future government.

The threshold increase is welcome, but it's not enough. We fight on.