Dan Tomlinson MP: speeches

Speeches

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  We heard what farmers were saying and that is why we have come forward with the changes we announced last month.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  No, I do not accept that. That is not the answer.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  The Government have been listening to rural communities, farming representatives and the representatives of family businesses. That is why, after listening, we have come forward with these changes, which we think strike the right balance between the necessary impulse to ensure a fair and sustainable tax system and continuing to protect smaller businesses and farms. I am sure that we will have many more chances in this place to continue to discuss business rates.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  We have listened. We have made sure, after the engagement we have had with farmers across the country, their representatives and the representatives of family businesses, that we have come forward with a policy proposal that we, on the Government Benches, now think is balanced. It raises £300 million from the very largest estates and does so in a fair way that means we can continue to fund our public services sustainably.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  The previous Government negotiated poorly when it came to trade deals. When the Conservatives negotiate, Britain loses. Labour has negotiated four new significant trade deals that will help to ensure that British businesses—farming businesses and businesses of all sorts—can access more markets, more easily. That is the right thing to do for long-term growth and productivity.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend gives me the chance to quote Michael Gove, who admitted that the previous Government had let down British farmers. He said: “I can confirm I think we negotiated poorly with Australia, and New Zealand, but particularly with Australia in defence of our farmers”. He admits that the last Government made mistakes, failing farmers on trade; I wonder whether the Opposition will do so too.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  We will always fight for the interests of British businesses and British farmers in the deals we strike with countries across the world.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his continued engagement on this and a whole range of issues that affect rural communities in Cornwall—he is a strong advocate for his constituents. As he says, we have now come forward with a change in the APR and BPR thresholds to make sure we can protect those smaller family farms.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  Yes, I agree with my hon. Friend’s powerful contribution. He made important points about how the trade deals negotiated by the previous Government undermined British farming and that there was no consistency of investment and support for farmers up and down the country. What do rural communities think about that? At the last general election, they turfed out hundreds of Conservative rural MPs and elected over 150 Labour MPs to represent rural and semi-rural constituencies. Labour Members are now the mainstream voice of rural communities up and down the country.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for the engagement that we have had on this and other issues that affect his constituency, which I know contains some rural elements. He has raised an important point. We need to continue to work in partnership with farmers, and with their representatives and trade bodies, to make sure that we can support sustainable food production in the UK, and we are investing £11.8 billion of support over this Parliament.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  I can reassure the hon. Member that I and Ministers will continue to think through the impacts on rural communities—and all communities—when we come forward with changes to tax or other policies. It is because we have done that that we came forward with the change we announced just before Christmas, and we will be making that change in the Finance Bill in the coming weeks.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  The Government announced the change in December because we had continued to listen to the representatives of family businesses and the farming community. I note that the National Farmers’ Union and others have welcomed the change, which will increase the threshold from £1 million to £2.5 million. I think it is the right change to make, and it ensures that we get the balance right. We are still raising £300 million from the very largest estates. If the Conservatives would prefer not to raise that money and give a £1 million tax cut to an estate worth £10 million, that is their choice. It is not our choice. We think we have got to the right place on this policy and are striking the right balance—both raising revenue from those with the very largest estates, and making sure that we have a higher threshold. Because of the changes we announced at the Budget, someone in a couple will now be able to pass on up to £5 million. I can confirm to the House that I did not sign the tax information note for the change that was announced on 23 December before the Budget. On the numbers, as I said, the number of estates affected who claim agricultural property relief—including those also claiming BPR—is expected to halve, from 375 to 185.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to say that we on this side of the House are the true and better representatives of the rural community. There are over 150 MPs on this side of the House who represent rural or semi-rural constituencies—I believe that there are as many Labour MPs representing rural constituencies as there are MPs on the blue Opposition Benches.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  We will not be scrapping this tax completely. We have tabled an amendment that the House will have the chance to debate next week in Committee of the whole House on the Finance Bill. We think that the proposals that we plan to implement will raise £300 million in a fair way and protect smaller family farms.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for the conversations that I know she has had with Ministers on this and other issues in recent weeks and months. Yes, we will continue to do all we can to support farmers and the farming industry in this country. That is part of why we are working hard on trade deals, to make sure we can improve access to markets for farmers here in the UK so they can export more of their produce overseas.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for inviting me to his constituency last year; I believe it was shortly after I was made a Minister on 1 September. It was a very productive and useful visit, and I thank the farmers and members of the community I met when I went to a lovely café and had some lovely tea and cake with my hon. Friend and those farmers. It was a really helpful conversation for me, and I am thankful to him for his representations on behalf of his constituents over many months. I want to work with him on procurement and ensuring that we can continue to support farmers and farming communities; I know that Ministers across Government, particularly in DEFRA, will continue to do that in the months and years ahead so that we can turn the page on the chaos we had under the previous Government.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his question, which has given me a chance to return to a question that the shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Dr Hudson), asked, but that I did not quite get to—he will have to forgive me. I will put on record for the House that the number of estates claiming only business property relief is set to fall from 325 to 220 a year as a result of our increasing the threshold from £1 million to £2.5 million. I have met representatives of Family Business UK. I know that, as well as having private conversations about APR, Labour Members have been discussing the BPR proposals with the Government. The uplift in the threshold will mean that family businesses that people wish to pass on will now be subject to a lower tax rate, or will not have to pay the tax at all in many cases.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend, too, for her work on the Select Committee, and for representing rural communities, including hers. My understanding is that Ministers in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Government are looking at what more we can do to ensure that farmers receive a fair price for their products. Of course, we support having a competitive supermarket and retail system in this country, so that we can have low prices for consumers, but we have to ensure that those prices are fair for farmers, and for the communities up and down the country that we rely on to produce good British produce.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  I cannot update my hon. Friend at this moment, but I would be happy to write to him on that point.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  We think that continuing to raise around £300 million from this policy is the right thing to do, so that—alongside the other changes that the Government are making—we can raise revenue in a fair and sustainable way to fund our public services.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  The Government want to support growth and investment in rural communities. That is why we are putting in £11.8 billion of support over the course of this Parliament and ensuring that we improve our economy and our economic fortunes across the board as a country after the chaos of the last 14 years. We have had six interest rate cuts in a row, borrowing costs are coming down, and inflation is falling faster than people forecast—it is now forecast to continue to fall. All those long-term changes to improve our economic outlook will support businesses in rural communities and communities across the country.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for her question and for her strong representation of rural constituents and rural communities. She makes a very important point. It is worth noting that this is a tax relief, and the tax relief as it stood before the changes that the Government have come forward with since the 2024 Budget meant that the top 7% of claims for agricultural property relief accounted for 40% of the Exchequer cost of the relief. That meant £219 million in foregone tax revenue—revenue that, by and large, this Government will now be raising from the very largest estates to help fund our public services in a sustainable way. The Opposition were never able to do that because of their chaotic management of the economy and the public finances.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  Yes, the Government will make sure that we do continue to listen.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  Because I sign them off, I can tell the hon. Lady that there are many consultations on tax changes that we publish alongside fiscal events. If she wished to engage with the consultation on electric vehicle taxation, she could do so; if she wished to engage with the consultation on the high-value council tax surcharge that will be published shortly, she could do so too. The Government have published many consultations on tax changes, and on those where formal consultations are not published—it is not universal—we continue to engage in detail with those who are affected, as we have done with this change.

• 5 Jan 2026 · Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for the strong representation that he has provided for his constituents since he was elected in 2024, and for raising an important issue. I am sure that DEFRA Ministers are alive to that issue and will continue to have conversations with hon. Members.