Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief Debate
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Lizzi Collinge
Main Page: Lizzi Collinge (Labour - Morecambe and Lunesdale)Department Debates - View all Lizzi Collinge's debates with the HM Treasury
Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief
Lizzi Collinge Excerpts(3 days, 20 hours ago)
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Dan Tomlinson
The figures that the Government have published on this change and at previous Budgets are drawn from actual claims and from engagement with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs on both APR and BPR. That analysis shows that before this change, up to 275 estates a year would have been affected, and that that number is now forecast to halve to around 185. That means that around 85% of all estates claiming APR, some with BPR, will now not pay any additional tax. I stand by those figures. We published them when we made the decision and they are included in the letter that I and the Secretary of State have sent to all Members.
On the right hon. Member’s point about £2.5 million or £5 million, I think he was referring to the fact that a couple can pass on up to £5 million and for a single person it is £2.5 million. That is a long-standing position. It means that the inheritance tax nil rate band and the residence nil rate band are transferable only between spouses and civil partners. Making any unused allowance transferable in the same way is consistent with that long-standing approach.
Lizzi Collinge (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Lab)
My constituents very much welcome the changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief, which, as the Minister knows, I have raised repeatedly. The changes to the reliefs mean that family farms will be protected while large landowners who bought agricultural land simply to avoid paying tax will no longer have that loophole. Does the Minister agree that these changes show that the Labour Government are listening to rural areas and to rural Labour MPs, and that, unlike the Opposition, they are serious about proper policy development and not just headline chasing?
Dan Tomlinson
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.