Wiltshire MPs have been meeting with local farmers amid the protests against the changes to inheritance tax announced in Labour’s Budget.

The plans will see inherited agricultural assets worth over £1m taxed at 20 per cent from April 2026, which the government says will not affect the "vast majority" of farms.

After speaking to protesting farmers, Melksham and Devizes’ Lib Dem MP Brian Mathew said: “It was important to meet local farmers in Westminster.

READ MORE: Changes to farming inheritance tax – what are the details?

Chippenham MP Sarah Gibson meeting farmers in Westminster.Chippenham MP Sarah Gibson meeting farmers in Westminster. (Image: Josh Charles) “Family farms keep food on our table, provide good local jobs and look after our rural environment.

“I met with farmers from my constituency of Melksham and Devizes and heard their concerns about the incoming changes to inheritance tax.

“I have visited family farms across the constituency and will continue to do so in the coming months.”

Chippenham’s Lib Dem MP Sarah Gibson is also urging the government to reconsider.

She said: “Family farmers across my constituency have already been failed by a Conservative party that didn’t care about them - they can’t now be let down by a Labour government that does not understand them.  

“But this family farm tax will not only impact our farmers, but also the wider rural business community, such as farm vets and farm shops.

“With fewer farms able to run, these other rural businesses are facing an unsettling future. 

“British farmers are already battling with sky-high energy bills and botched overseas trade deals; and this hike will only make things much worse. I am urging the government to change course. 

“For all their talk of growth, this Labour budget is failing to sow the seeds for a healthy rural economy. Instead, they’re putting family businesses and our food security at risk.” 

The Conservative MP for East Wiltshire, Danny Kruger, said: “I met farmers from across my constituency in Westminster today - they were among tens of thousands of people who came together to rally against Labour's Family Farm Tax plans.

“Despite previously promising to protect farmers, under Government proposals more than 100,000 farms across the country will be hit by new inheritance tax laws.

“They will be devastating for family farms and pose a serious risk to domestic food security and food prices.

Labour’s ideological decision to target farmers – despite promising not to do so – has the potential to wreck farmer’s lives and the whole industry.”

The Country Land and Business Association claimed close to 70,000 farms would be affected, but some economists have said this is slightly misleading as it does not reflect how many estates will have to pay inheritance tax each year, but rather how many could be valued at over £1 million today.

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South West Wiltshire’s Conservative MP Andrew Murrison recently expressed his concern in the House of Commons.

During the budget debate, he argued: “Given the raid on family farms, it is worth pointing out that the art of a good Budget and smart taxation is plucking the goose to get the maximum number of feathers with the minimum amount of hissing.

“On that basis, I am afraid this Budget fails lamentably, and it certainly does in my constituency. 

“The Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Jonathan Reynolds), in his opening remarks, said that 500 farms a year will be affected by the Budget’s changes to agricultural property relief.

“He said it casually, as if it is acceptable.

“Well, that is approximately one for every constituency, and very much more in rural constituencies.

“The prospect of this affecting, and potentially closing, two farms a year in my constituency is, frankly, horrendous.

“I urge the Government to think again.” 

PM Keir Starmer has said he would defend the Budget "all day long" for taking "tough decisions that were necessary to stabilise our economy".

The government has stated: “It is not fair for a very small number of claimants each year to claim such a significant amount of relief, when this money could better be used to fund our public services.”