James Murray MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 10 Dec 2024 · Finance Bill · Hansard source

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  I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman has given me a chance to set out why the Government plan is the right and balanced approach. We are ensuring that the oil and gas sector is supported in making the contribution that we know it will to our energy mix for many years to come, while asking it to contribute to the transition to clean energy. The oil and gas industry recognises that a transition to clean energy is under way. It wants to support investment and jobs in the industry but also to contribute to the transition. Taking a fair and balanced approach is the right way to protect the jobs and industries of today and tomorrow and, crucially, to protect bill payers, giving them permanently lower bills and greater energy independence. [Interruption.]

• 10 Dec 2024 · Finance Bill · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right that we are asking oil and gas companies to make a fair and reasonable contribution towards our transition to clean energy. That transition is under way, and it is important for oil and gas companies to make a contribution, but that should happen in a way that protects the jobs and industries of today and tomorrow.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Finance Bill · Hansard source

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  I hope that my hon. Friend’s constituents will benefit from lower bills as a result of the investment that we are ensuring, by the public and private sectors, in the clean energy sources of the future. We knew, when the Conservatives introduced the energy profits levy, that the extraordinary oil and gas profits were driven by global circumstances, including resurgent demand after covid-19, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Households in the UK, however, were particularly badly hit by higher oil and gas prices, as the Government at the time had failed to invest adequately in energy independence, or in measures such as home insulation. When the energy profits levy was introduced, an 80% investment allowance was also introduced, and this was later reduced to 29% when the levy rate increased from 25% to 35% in January 2023. An 80% decarbonisation investment allowance was later put in place for decarbonisation expenditure, which is money spent on the reduction of emissions from the production of oil and gas. The levy was initially set at 25%, but the previous Government increased it to 35% and extended it beyond 2025, first to 2028, and later to 2029. As I mentioned, the Government recognise the continued role for oil and gas in the UK’s energy mix during the energy transition. We are committed to managing the transition in a way that supports jobs in existing and future industries, recognising that our offshore workers have the vital skills to unlock the clean industries of the future. I put on record my thanks to the offshore workers I met in Aberdeen in August for giving me some of their time and their views when I was there for a meeting with Offshore Energies UK and representatives of the sector. As I mentioned, it is essential that we drive both public and private investment in the transition to clean energy. Clause 15 therefore increases the energy profits levy by three percentage point—from 35% to 38%—from 1 November 2024. The clause also sets out the rules for apportioning profits for accounting periods that straddle the start date. As I have made clear, the money raised by these changes will help to support the transition to clean energy, enhancing our energy security and providing sustainable jobs for the future. Clause 16 concerns allowances in the levy. The clause removes the 29% core investment allowance for general expenditure incurred on or after 1 November 2024, as I mentioned to the hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse). The Government have been clear about our intention to end unjustifiably generous allowances, and that is exactly what we are doing by abolishing the core investment allowance. We are bringing the level of relief for investment in the sector broadly in line with the level of capital allowances available to other companies operating across the rest of the economy through full expensing, which we have committed to maintaining. The energy profit levy’s decarbonisation allowance will be retained to support the sector in reducing emissions. Qualifying expenditure includes money spent on electrification of production, or on reducing venting and flaring. The retention of the decarbonisation allowance reflects the Government’s commitment to facilitating cleaner home-grown energy. However, in the light of the increase to the levy, clause 16 also reduces the rate of the decarbonisation allowance to 66% in order to maintain the same cash value of the tax relief per £100 of investment. Clause 17 extends the sunset of the levy by one year from 31 March 2029 to 31 March 2030. To provide the oil and gas industry with long-term certainty and confidence in the fiscal regime, we are retaining the levy’s price floor, the energy security investment mechanism.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Finance Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank hon. Members for their contributions to the debate. I will respond to some of the points raised, and set out the Government’s views on the new clauses. The Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Grantham and Bourne (Gareth Davies), asked for confirmation of our decision to retain the energy security investment mechanism. I hope that he will take yes for an answer, because yes, I can confirm that the ESIM will remain in effect until 31 March 2030, when the energy profits levy is due to end. It will continue to be adjusted in line with consumer prices index inflation in future financial years. I hope that sets his mind at rest on that point. The hon. Gentleman asked about modelling the impact of the energy profits levy. I am sure that he will remember from his time in the Treasury the role that the Office for Budget Responsibility plays. He will see that in the report that it published alongside the Budget, it forecast £12.6 billion being raised from the levy over the forecast period. Of course, the OBR will provide updated forecasts next year. The hon. Gentleman and other hon. Members kept raising the phrase “extraordinary profits” when talking about trying to understand the position that the oil and gas sector is in. That links directly to the energy security investment mechanism, because prices remain higher than the price floor that we set. The energy security investment mechanism means that if prices fall sufficiently and return to historically normal levels, the levy will be disapplied. The relationship between the levy, profits and the maintenance of the energy security investment mechanism is key to understanding the Government’s approach. The Liberal Democrats spokesperson, the hon. Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper), asked about our choosing a 78% rate, how we set the rate for the energy profits levy, and about other attributes of the system being set up by the clauses under debate. We seek to achieve a balanced approach. We are raising the rate to 78%, extending the levy for a further year and removing the investment allowance, which we deem to be unjustifiably generous; yet we are maintaining 100% first-year allowances, the decarbonisation allowance, and the energy security investment mechanism. That strikes the right balance between ensuring that oil and gas companies continue to invest in oil and gas for years to come, and ensuring that they contribute to and support the transition to clean energy. The hon. Member for Angus and Perthshire Glens (Dave Doogan) spoke about the need for long-term stability. I entirely agree that we need it. That is precisely what we seek to achieve by saying that the energy profits levy will come to an end in March 2030, by having a price floor in the ESIM—we have mentioned that several times—and by proceeding with our consultation on the post energy profits levy regime. That will give confidence to those thinking about investing in the oil and gas sector not just before the end of the energy profits levy, but post 2030. The right hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson) also mentioned long-term stability. He seems distracted right now, but I hope that will be of some reassurance to him. The hon. Member for Angus and Perthshire Glens said that a £78 investment relief is available in Norway, whereas the figure is £46 in the UK. I want to put on record that in the UK, while the energy profits levy remains in place, the sector continues to benefit from an £84.25 relief for every £100 of investment. I hope that gives him some reassurance on the points that he raised. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Earley and Woodley (Yuan Yang) for her thoughtful and informed contribution, which explained that our approach strikes the right balance. I must say, however, that I was disappointed by the contribution from the hon. Member for Waveney Valley (Adrian Ramsay), because he seemed not to support our moves to ensure that tax is not a blocker to CCUS, which will play an essential role in our progress towards net zero. The UK has a chance to be a world leader in that sector; I hoped that he would support our efforts to ensure that it is. Two new clauses were tabled, which hon. Members spoke about. They require reports to be published. I can remember tabling many such new clauses over the last few years. New clause 2, tabled by the hon. Member for St Albans, would require the Government to produce a report setting out the fiscal impact of the removal of the energy profits levy investment allowance and the change to the decarbonisation investment allowance rate. New clause 3, tabled by the right hon. Member for Central Devon (Mel Stride), would require the Government to produce a report on the expected impact of the levy changes in a number of areas, including on capital expenditure in the UK oil and gas industry and on the Scottish economy. The Government oppose new clauses 2 and 3 on the basis that they are unnecessary. We have already set out the impact of our measures in a tax information and impact note, which was published at the time of the Budget. That note states that the changes made to the energy profits levy will raise an additional £2.3 billion over the scorecard, and further data on the UK oil and gas industry is regularly published on gov.uk. I hope that I have addressed some of the points raised by hon. Members, and have reassured them that the new clauses are not necessary. I urge the House to let clauses 15 to 18 and schedule 3 stand part of the Bill, and to reject new clauses 2 and 3. Question put and agreed to. Clause 15 accordingly ordered to stand part of the Bill . Clauses 16 to 18 ordered to stand part of the Bill . Schedule 3 agreed to. New Clause 2 Report on fiscal effects: relief for investment expenditure “The Chancellor of the Exchequer must, within six months of the passing of this Act, lay before Parliament a report setting out the impact of the measures contained in clause 16 of this Act on tax revenue.” — (Daisy Cooper.) This new clause would require the Government to produce a report setting out the fiscal impact of the Bill’s changes to the Energy Profits Levy investment expenditure relief . Brought up, and read the First time . Question put, the clause be read a Second time.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Finance Bill · Hansard source

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  I believe that it is fair that the oil and gas industry makes a reasonable contribution to the energy transition. We need to ensure that during the transition from oil and gas, which will play a key role in our energy mix for years to come, the industry contributes to the new, clean energy of the future. The way to have a responsible, managed transition is to work with the industry and make sure that it makes a fair contribution, but to not shy away from making that transition at the scale and pace needed.

• 10 Dec 2024 · Finance Bill · Hansard source

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  I would like to explain to the hon. Gentleman how the energy security investment mechanism works, because that, to be fair, was put in place by the previous Government, and we are maintaining it. It says that if prices drop below a certain threshold for six months, the energy profits levy ceases early. That gives some certainty and predictability to the oil and gas sector. If prices go below that level, the sector can have confidence that the energy security investment mechanism will end the levy early. If that does not happen, the levy will continue, as we have said, until March 2030. I am keen—I will set out a few more details later—to engage with the oil and gas sector on the regime post the energy profits levy, because it is important for oil and gas companies making decisions about investment to have certainty about what will happen up until March 2030, and to understand what the regime might be like thereafter. That is why I am looking forward to my conversations with the sector on what the post energy profits levy regime will look like. Long-term certainty and confidence is being provided to the oil and gas sector by our retention of the levy’s price floor, the energy security investment mechanism, which I was explaining to the hon. Member for Angus and Perthshire Glens (Dave Doogan). It means that the levy will cease permanently if oil and gas prices fall below a set level for a sustained period. Furthermore, as I also just said, to provide stability for the long term, the Government will publish a consultation in early 2025 on how the tax regime will respond to price shocks once the energy profits levy comes to an end. That will give oil and gas producers and their investors predictability and certainty on the future of the fiscal regime, which will support their ability to continue investing, while also ensuring that the nation receives a fair return at a time of exceptional crisis.

• 9 Dec 2024 · Draft Double Taxation Relief and International Tax Enforcement (Ecuador) Order 2024 · Hansard source

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  I welcome the comments from the shadow Minister and his party’s support for this double taxation treaty. First, on Ecuador’s ratification of the DTC, Ecuador has indicated that it will complete the process by the end of this year, which I think gives the shadow Minister the timetable he was seeking. If this Committee supports the DTC today, it will take effect from 1 January 2025, as long as the necessary diplomatic exchanges are all completed in time. Taxpayers and businesses in the UK will be able to benefit from the DTC provisions from that date. The other questions the shadow Minister asked related to the explanatory memorandum and the relationship with pillar 2. There are provisions taken from the United Nations model tax convention, which many developing countries prefer, and which are present in many of the UK’s treaties. They reflect the support for developing countries as they want to engage in the process. Ecuador’s approach to pillar 2 more broadly is probably a question more for the Government of Ecuador than for me but, as the shadow Minister will know, we are committed to the effective delivery of pillar 2 in the UK and to ensuring that the necessary legislation is put in place. Indeed, there is legislation on that in the current Finance Bill, so I look forward potentially to his support for that Bill when it comes to the Chamber. To conclude, this statutory instrument to approve the double taxation treaty will ensure that we have a modern DTC in place in both countries, providing a stable foundation for investment and growth, while at the same time, crucially, making it harder for people to avoid their taxes in the UK if that is something they are trying to do. I am grateful to the shadow Minister for his contribution and I hope the Committee will see fit to support the order. Question put and agreed to.

• 9 Dec 2024 · Draft Double Taxation Relief and International Tax Enforcement (Ecuador) Order 2024 · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Double Taxation Relief and International Tax Enforcement (Ecuador) Order 2024. It is a pleasure to serve on this Committee with you as Chair, Mrs Harris. The order before the Committee gives effect to a first-time double taxation convention with Ecuador. It will provide a clear and fair framework for the taxation and administration of cross-border transactions between the United Kingdom and Ecuador, benefiting businesses and the economies of both countries by removing barriers to cross-border trade and investment. The DTC is based mainly on the OECD model tax convention, which contains a set of internationally agreed principles that make DTCs easier for businesses to understand and for tax administrations to apply. I turn now to some of the main features of the DTC. It provides limits on the withholding taxes that can be charged on dividends, royalties and interest, which in many circumstances are less than the tax rates applied under Ecuador’s domestic law. There are specific exemptions for dividends and interest paid to pension funds and for interest paid to financial institutions, which will be of benefit to UK pension funds and to banks with interests in Ecuador. The DTC limits the circumstances in which the trading profits of an enterprise based in one country may be taxed in the other country. That will be welcomed, for instance, by United Kingdom businesses looking to provide services to customers in Ecuador, such as in the life sciences, infrastructure and financial services sectors, as it will ensure that businesses will not face Ecuadorian withholding taxes on some payments for those services. The agreement contains all the minimum standards introduced by the joint OECD and G20 project on base erosion and profit shifting. Those standards ensure that DTCs are not used to avoid or evade tax, and include a statement in the preamble that it is not a purpose of a DTC to create opportunities for tax evasion and avoidance, and a principal purpose test that denies treaty benefits in cases of abuse. Another anti-avoidance rule included in the new treaty is a tie-breaker provision for determining corporate residence based on agreement by the competent authorities of each country. The DTC also allows for the exchange of information between the two countries to facilitate tax transparency and provides for mutual assistance in the collection of tax debts. Together, these features strengthen both countries’ defences against tax avoidance and evasion. The order includes dispute resolution provisions that go beyond the minimum standard set out in the final recommendations of the BEPS project by providing that, where a taxpayer considers that the DTC has not been applied correctly, they can present their case to either tax authority, and not just where they are resident. In summary, this agreement is one that the UK can welcome, fulfilling a long-held ambition to conclude a DTC with Ecuador and filling another gap in the UK’s network of DTCs in Latin America. It will provide a stable, long-term framework within which trade and investment between the United Kingdom and Ecuador can flourish. I commend the order to the Committee.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Employer National Insurance Contributions · Hansard source

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  I thank all right hon. and hon. Members for their contributions during the course of the debate. This Government were elected with an immediate and critical need to draw a line under the fiscal irresponsibility and economic mismanagement of the Conservatives. Since day one in office, we have been determined to deliver economic stability, and we have done so by fixing the public finances, introducing tough new fiscal rules, and getting the NHS and other public services back on their feet. It is on those foundations that we will boost investment and drive long-term economic growth to make people better off. This is not an easy task, as the Chancellor has said, but fixing those foundations is what underpins all the difficult but necessary decisions we have taken. It is the goal of fixing the foundations of our public finances and the NHS that has driven our decision to make the changes to employer national insurance contributions that we have been discussing today. In taking the difficult decisions at the Budget, the Chancellor has been determined to protect working people. That is why our Budget made no changes to income tax, rates of VAT or the amount of national insurance that working people pay. As a result of our Budget, people will not see a penny more on their payslips. However, a £22 billion black hole in the public finances cannot be fixed without taking any difficult decisions at all. The Conservatives in government hid their heads in the sand and ignored the fiscal realities. Now, both they and other Opposition parties are desperate to have it both ways. They say that they support extra money for the NHS, but they refuse to back the measures to fund it.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Employer National Insurance Contributions · Hansard source

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  I have been very generous over the past 48 hours in giving way in this Chamber, but I will not. My time is very limited, although I would like to hear more about the plane the hon. Gentleman spoke about earlier. We have made the tough but necessary choices that this set of circumstances requires, which is why we have decided to raise employer national insurance contributions. The changes broadly return national insurance revenues as a proportion of GDP to the levels they were at before the previous Government’s cuts to employee and self-employed NICs, but they do so in a way that does not result in higher taxes in people’s payslips. They also do so in a way that increases protection for small businesses and charities, because we have decided to more than double the employment allowance to £10,500 and remove the business size threshold. That means that from April 2025, all eligible organisations will be able to employ up to four people on the national living wage without paying a penny of employer’s national insurance. Over half of all employers will pay the same or less national insurance than they did before, but we acknowledge that the decision will have an impact for other employers. Employers will have a choice about how they respond to the changes, and some of those choices will be hard. I do not have enough time to respond to all the points raised by hon. Members directly, but I will briefly respond to the right hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart)—he has been intervening all afternoon but he is no longer in his place. He asked about table 3.2 in the OBR report. I am sorry to disappoint him, but my answer is nowhere near as interesting as I suspect he thought it might be; the table was simply published in error and has now been corrected. The Government provide support for Departments and other public sector employees with the additional employer national insurance contributions liability, and separately we have provided an additional 3.2% increase to local government spending power, including £600 million of new grant funding for social care. I thank all the other hon. Members who made contributions: my hon. Friends the Members for Makerfield (Josh Simons), for Stevenage (Kevin Bonavia), for North East Derbyshire (Louise Jones), for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Danny Beales) and for Rother Valley (Jake Richards), and the hon. Members for Hamble Valley (Paul Holmes), for Hazel Grove (Lisa Smart), for Rutland and Stamford (Alicia Kearns), for Wokingham (Clive Jones) and for Hornchurch and Upminster (Julia Lopez). I want to briefly respond to the point of order made earlier by the hon. Member for South Shropshire (Stuart Anderson) because I welcome the chance to repeat the fact that the OBR said in October that its March forecast would have been “materially different” had it known what the previous Government did not share with it at the time of the March forecast. I am confident that the Hansard record is correct. It specifically includes “materially different” in quotations and not the rest of my statement. I am grateful to have had the chance to respond on behalf of the Government to the questions that have been raised today. The decision to make changes to employer national insurance was not taken lightly. It was a tough decision for us to take. I recognise that while half of businesses and organisations will pay the same or less than before, others will face difficult decisions of their own. We have asked employers to make a greater contribution, and while we do not expect those affected to welcome that, I hope the majority will understand why we have done it. The simple fact of the matter is that our country needed a Government prepared to fix the public finances, get public services back on their feet and restore economic stability. It is only through an ambitious and fiscally responsible approach that we can boost investment in growth, laying the path towards the brighter days ahead. The previous Government had completely lost sight of that. My office in the Treasury building used to be that of Nigel Lawson. He once said: “To govern is to choose. To appear to be unable to choose is to appear to be unable to govern.” That very neatly reflects where the Conservative party has ended up now. Before, as the Government, the Conservatives had given up on effective governing, and since then they have given up on effective opposition. This vote today comes down to a choice: between irresponsibility on the Opposition Benches and a Government prepared to do what is needed to build a better future. It is this Labour party in government that is taking the tough but necessary decisions, with a once-in-a-generation Budget to wipe the slate clean and put our country on a better path. It is this Government that have restored economic stability, fixed the public finances and hardwired fiscal responsibility into the Budget-making process. It is this Government that are putting the NHS back on its feet, raising the national living wage and protecting people’s payslips, and it is this Government that will invest in our country, create wealth in every nation and region and make people across Britain better off. That is the choice today and that is why we reject the Opposition’s motion. Question put.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  It is not appropriate for me, as a Minister, to give specific tax advice to one family, but I will talk about the general principles behind our reform. In fact, I was about to begin setting out some of the detail of our policy.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight the fact that some of the features of the current inheritance tax relief system mean that it is an attractive vehicle for tax planning to reduce inheritance tax liability. People who have wealth who have never been farmers and do not intend to become farmers have been using it as a way to avoid inheritance tax. In fact, reducing that should take some of the pressure out of agricultural land values and, I would hope, help to make a more sustainable farming sector in the future.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  To address the right hon. Gentleman’s point, we recognise that agricultural and business property relief play an important role in supporting family farms, but the full unlimited exemption from inheritance tax has simply become unsustainable. The four most recent years-worth of data make clear why. The data shows that a very small number of agricultural property relief claimants, including those who claim business property relief too, benefited from a very significant amount of relief. In total, 47% of the Exchequer cost of the relief went to the top 7% of claims. To be clear what that means, I will put it another way. For every 14 or so estates, the top one among them claimed half the total relief.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  I am going to make some progress. I just set out some statistics that show how this tax relief is very concentrated in a small number of claims. In the context of the dire fiscal situation we inherited and the critical need to fix the public finances and get public services back on their feet, it cannot be right to maintain such a significant level of relief for a very small number of claimants. That is why, from 6 April 2026, the full 100% relief from inheritance tax will be restricted to the first £1 million of combined agricultural and business property. Above that amount, there will be an unlimited 50% relief, so inheritance tax will be paid at a reduced effective rate of up to 20%, rather than the standard 40%. The new system, it should be noted, remains more generous than in the past. As I mentioned, the rate of relief prior to 1992 was a maximum of 50% on all agricultural and business assets, including the first £1 million. The reliefs we are providing will be on top of all the other exemptions and nil-rate bands that people can access for inheritance tax. Taken in combination, this means that a couple with farmland will typically be able to pass on up to £3 million-worth of assets to their descendants without paying any inheritance tax.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  I reassure the right hon. Gentleman, for whom I have a lot of respect personally, that we carefully considered how to calibrate the policy to ensure that significant relief from inheritance tax is still available to family farms, while at the same time fixing the public finances in as fair a way as possible.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  I have met members of the National Farmers Union, representing the farming industry, a number of times since the Budget for detailed discussions. That has helped us to understand the impact that this policy will have and to ask for their support in communicating how it will work.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right to point out that the Conservative party has no ideas about how the country needs to change, no ideas about how to get the public finances back in order, and no ideas about how to get public services back on their feet or how to deliver economic stability.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  A lot of data has already been published. I mentioned the Chancellor’s letter to the Treasury Committee, and further details on the impact will be published alongside the draft legislation in the normal way. I suggest that the hon. Gentleman reads the letter to the Select Committee. As he and the his right hon. Friend will know, the impacts are typically published at the time of draft legislation. That is the normal process. Indeed, it was the norm under the previous Government.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  I have confidence in the way in which we have calibrated the policy. As I said to the right hon. Member for Salisbury (John Glen), it has balanced the need to retain significant, generous provision of inheritance tax relief for family farms with ensuring that, at the same time, we fix the public finances in the fairest way possible.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  What I am explaining is that the data for claims through HMRC, which shows the claims made under agricultural property relief and business property relief, is the correct set of data to work out future liabilities on that basis. That is what the projections that we have put out are based on. That is set out in the Chancellor’s letter to the Treasury Committee that I mentioned. I urge the right hon. Gentleman and his colleagues to review that letter to understand the data I am talking about in more detail.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from “House” to the end of the Question and add: “thanks farmers for their immense contribution to the UK economy and the nation’s food security; welcomes the Government’s commitment of £5 billion to the farming budget over the next two years, the biggest budget for sustainable food production and nature recovery in UK history; acknowledges that the Government is having to make difficult decisions to protect farms and farmers in the context of the £22 billion fiscal blackhole left by the previous Government; recognises that the Government is seeking to target Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief to make them fairer whilst also fixing the public services that everyone relies on; and notes that under the changes announced in the Budget around three quarters of claims for Agricultural Property Relief, including those that also claim Business Property Relief, are expected to not pay more Inheritance Tax.” I welcome the chance to open the debate on behalf of the Government. The Government’s commitment to farmers is steadfast. As our amendment makes clear, farmers make an immense contribution to the UK economy and to the nation’s food security. We recognise and respect the crucial contribution that farmers make to our country’s way of life. We must also recognise, however, the state of our public services and the mess in which we found the public finances when we came into power. There was no way we could have left things as they were. Unlike the Conservatives, there was never any question of Labour ignoring the £22 billion black hole that we uncovered in the public finances. We had to bring the previous Administration’s fiscal irresponsibility to an end. We had to ensure that our country lives within its means. We had to get public services back on their feet while meeting our tough new fiscal rules, which end borrowing for day-to-day spending. That is what we, as a responsible Government, had to do. That is why, at the autumn Budget, the Chancellor set out a number of difficult but necessary decisions on tax, welfare and spending. These decisions were to restore economic stability, fix the public finances and rebuild our public services. One of the decisions we took was to reform agricultural and business property relief. We chose to do so in a way that maintains significant tax relief for family farms, while fixing the public finances as fairly as possible.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  Although our policy should discourage the kind of tax planning to which I think the hon. Gentleman refers, the policy is broader than that. It is necessary to balance significant relief from inheritance tax on family farms with the need to fix the public finances, and that is the balanced decision that we have taken with this policy. Of course, the decision on this tax policy sits alongside the Government’s wider decisions at Budget 2024. There is £5 billion over two years for farming and land management in England, which will help restore stability and confidence in the sector. That includes the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature recovery in our country’s history. Despite the difficult fiscal inheritance, £60 million of funding has also been prioritised for the farm recovery fund, to support farmers impacted by severe wet weather over the last year.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  No. I am going to make some progress. As my hon. Friend the Member for North East Derbyshire (Louise Jones) has pointed out, a range of exemptions need to be taken into account. Full exemptions for transfers between spouses and civil partners will continue to apply. Any transfers to individuals more than seven years before death, as gifts, will continue to fall fully outside the scope of inheritance tax, and taper relief will apply in certain circumstances within that time. Furthermore, any tax that is due in relation to these assets can be paid in instalments over 10 years, interest free. Those payment terms are more generous than in any other part of the tax system. As I have mentioned several times during the debate, these decisions have been based on understandings that draw on data from both DEFRA and HMRC. I note that there has been some confusion on the Opposition Benches, whether wilful or not, about what the data shows.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  I am going to make some progress. I am going to continue to explain how some of the other exemptions within the inheritance tax system will benefit people affected by this policy.

• 4 Dec 2024 · Farming and Inheritance Tax · Hansard source

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  We know that individual circumstances will vary. Any individual who is concerned about their specific tax liability should obviously consult an accountant or financial adviser. We would not know, from a thumbnail sketch, whether that person had any inherited nil rate bands, what their liabilities were, what decisions they had made about gifting, and so on. A huge number of factors will play into this, and it is right for individuals to seek specific advice. Things that are said in this Chamber may be creating undue anxiety, when people should be looking into the detail.