With the UK Government’s inheritance tax changes continuing to weigh very heavily on the minds of its members, the union’s President was keen to raise this issue with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State of Wales. NFU Cymru was also joined by Sean Boucher, who heads up lifetime planning for the union’s south Wales panel legal firm, JCP Solicitors, and was able to bring considerable expertise and real-world experience to the meeting.
Profound impact on national security
Speaking after the meeting, NFU Cymru President Mr Aled Jones said: “I am grateful to the Minister for meeting with us. Farmers in Wales stand to be severely impacted by these policy proposals, and for many the opportunity to plan ahead for the transfer of the business and minimise the tax liability simply isn’t there perhaps due to old age or declining health. My real concern is that farmers who are working on very low margins, will, when presented with a hefty inheritance tax bill, simply chose to exit the sector instead of carrying on with the business. This will then have profound implications for our rural economy and communities as well as our national food security.
“We used the meeting with the Minister Nia Griffith to re-iterate our calls for a pause and review of this Treasury policy, as well as further consideration of our alternative ‘clawback’ proposals.”
Funding not ringfenced
Also up for discussion with the Wales Office was funding for Welsh agriculture from the UK Government, with Mr Jones saying: “In last Autumn’s budget it was confirmed that a baseline amount of funding to support agriculture had been consolidated in the Welsh block grant, i.e. the money which Welsh Government receives from the UK Government each year to pay for devolved expenditure. Whilst that is a positive start, what is less positive is the fact that this funding is not ringfenced and any future adjustments to this baseline amount will be via the Barnett formula. This means that Wales will receive around 5.75% of any corresponding uplift in England, instead of the 9% or so which would be commensurate with the historical size of Wales’ agricultural sector.”
Appropriate levels of border biosecurity
Following confirmation of Foot and Mouth Disease in Germany in January and in Hungary earlier this month, NFU Cymru’s President was keen to impress upon the Minister the importance of robust border biosecurity. He said: “We were pleased to see the UK Government acting swiftly to ban imports of products of animal origin from both affected countries. We do however remain deeply concerned about exotic diseases such as Foot and Mouth Disease entering the UK through illegally imported meat, in particular from third countries where such diseases are endemic. We have impressed on the Minister the need to ensure that we have appropriate levels of border biosecurity, with fit for purpose controls and penalties for rule-breakers which are a true deterrent.”
Take forward our concerns
Concluding, the NFU Cymru Deputy President, Abi Reader said: “We were pleased to be able to meet with the Wales Office and discuss a number of important issues. Although agriculture is of course devolved there are some matters which are in the hands of the UK Government including decisions around taxation, future funding and some of the decisions around border biosecurity. I am grateful to the Minister and the officials we met with for their time and I very much hope that they can take forward the concerns we raised with them to their colleagues in London.”