This is your Farming in Five daily news update, from Farmers Guardian.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Government Ministers have been implored to 'open their eyes' to the realities of Inheritance Tax changes and its impact on the health and well-being of farmers. 

Conservative MP Victoria Atkins told Defra Secretary Steve Reed in Parliament last week that farmers had taken their own lives due to the 'worry' they felt regarding impending changes to Inheritance Tax announced in Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Autumn Budget. 

The Shadow Defra Secretary said she was told of the news that 'several more' farmers had taken their own lives last week due to proposed taxation reforms to inherited agricultural assets in 2026.

Ms Atkins had previously addressed the issue back in December when she told Parliament a farmer had taken his life just weeks before Christmas because he did not want to be a 'financial burden' to his family by leaving an Inheritance Tax bill.

Inheritance Tax concerns have been raised since the General Election 2024, with former Farming Minister Mark Spencer having previously said the issue could 'devastate' family farm businesses and warned that Labour would seek to make amendments if they won the General Election, which was later proved to be correct. 

Yorkshire beef and sheep farmer Jonathan Charlesworth said changes to Inheritance Tax were the 'last straw' for his father, John Charlesworth, who had taken his own life at Broad Close Farm in Barnsley on October 29, a day before the Autumn Budget was announced.

Mr Charlesworth said his father had been seeking tax advice prior to the Autumn Budget due to concerns he had about passing on the farm to the next generation.

"18 months is not a long time to put anything in place," he added.

"I think Inheritance Tax is divisive, not only in agriculture. The value of the land is insignificant to us. We are just looking after it for the next generation.

"It got really bad in the last few weeks; we had been talking about the implications [of Inheritance Tax] and trying to get round it.

"The night before, we were talking about it – but I never thought he would do that [take his life]. He was proving a point – he was not prepared to risk it.

"I think he thought: ‘I am not prepared to have the taxman take the farm."

Last week, arable farmer Olly Harrison launched a petition urging the Chancellor to show 'humanity and compassion' by introducing a 12-month amnesty for elderly and ill-health farmers who have been placed in a seemingly 'impossible position' in which they were choosing between life and death to save their families the 'burden' of a tax bill.

Ms Atkins had questioned the Defra Secretary on whether he would tell the Prime Minister about the impact Inheritance Tax changes were having on farmers' mental health, and if not, whether he would resign from his ministerial position in Government. 

However, the Defra Secretary rejected the claims put forward by Ms Atkins, and instead argued she was 'weaponising' and 'politicising' Inheritance Tax.

However, Ms Atkins said she was simply confronting the Defra Secretary on the 'realities' of the Government's policy on farmers' health and wellbeing.

And that was your farming in five update. You can find more stories and features like this one by subscribing to Farmers Guardian. Visit: FarmersGuardian.com to find out more.

Thanks for listening, look after each other, and goodbye.  

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