Overview

• ONS data show a record 6,365 agriculture, forestry and fishing businesses closed over the past year, leaving a net loss of 3,175 firms.
• The Finance Bill enshrines Chancellor Reeves’s plan to charge 20% inheritance tax on estates exceeding £1m from April 2026, projected to raise up to £520m annually.
• Farmers are contending with soaring fertiliser costs and poor harvests after recent droughts and floods, intensifying financial pressures.
• Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers’ Union, warns that farmer confidence is at rock bottom and generational succession is under threat.
• Tractors driven into central London by protestors underscore mounting rural anger over cuts to inheritance tax relief for family farms.