Inheritance Tax

Richard Baker Excerpts

Wednesday 14th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Richard Baker (Glenrothes and Mid Fife) (Lab)]

I know from bitter personal experience that a period of opposition is an opportunity for a political party to reflect on what went wrong in government, so that it can take a different approach and seek to win the trust of the country again. Unfortunately, it appears that the Conservative party is instead using its time in opposition to double down on the mistakes made in government. Of course, we must support our farms and our family businesses, but the complete abolition of inheritance tax, not only on farms and family businesses but on all family homes, does not represent sound stewardship of this nation’s finances. I am afraid that it is a proposal all too worthy of one of the key architects of Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-Budget.

For me, the key question about the proposal is its impact on my constituents in Glenrothes and Mid Fife. They are already paying the price of the SNP’s failures in education and health services, with still too many people in pain on NHS waiting lists. Medium-sized and large businesses in Scotland are paying some £54 million more each in year in business rates than their counterparts in England, and if the Scottish economy under the SNP had grown at the same rate as Manchester’s with Andy Burnham over the past 10 years, it would be £33 billion bigger.

My constituents need fiscal policies that meet their priorities, protecting both the economy and public services. The Opposition’s proposal does not meet that test. The latest available figures show that inheritance tax is payable on fewer than one in 20 estates. Just 1,620 of those estates were in Scotland, and in Glenrothes and Mid Fife, so few estates pay inheritance tax that HMRC withholds the figures to protect confidentiality. In other words, the number of people in my constituency who would benefit from the proposal is so diminishingly small that it is not possible for HMRC to publish the figures. With so few people in Glenrothes and Mid Fife qualifying for the theoretical benefit of the policy, we must look at the costs.

The Opposition have said that the proposal would cost £6 billion, but as a number of hon. Friends have mentioned, Tax Policy Associates estimates that the cost could be up to £11 billion a year once behaviours as a result of the tax change are taken into consideration. Forty per cent. of the benefit of the cut would go to the richest 5%. Once again, the Conservatives are the party of the few and not the many.

Given the pressures being felt by UK households because of the challenges facing the global economy, the cost of living increases for families across the country and the challenges facing key public services such as social care, how on earth can this be a policy priority? How can the abolition of inheritance tax, not just on farms and family businesses but on all family homes, be a priority for any Government who truly have the interests of the whole country at heart?

My constituents need actions like those already taken by this Government, which include scrapping VAT on energy bills, action on business rates, which is needed in Scotland as well, and procurement changes to back British businesses and jobs. They do not need billions of pounds of investment in policies that will benefit precious few people in the communities I represent. Our pensioners and our older people need a Government who are prepared to act on real priorities, such as social care.

It is highly regrettable that the First Minister of Scotland has spent more time propagating factually incorrect statements on the proposal to adjust the triple lock than on dealing with the reality of social care in Scotland. Just as in England, in Scotland people who require care support face high social care charges, services are under-resourced and social care workers are underpaid.

[Paul Holmes]

The hon. Gentleman mentioned the Government’s pledge to reduce energy bills. When he stood at the election, did he exalt the policy of reducing energy bills by £300 that was put forward by the former Prime Minister? Now that that has been reduced to £45, has he apologised for the bit that he has not delivered on?

[Richard Baker]

We are already acting. We have already cut VAT from energy bills. What we are not going to do is invest up to £11 billion in priorities that do not represent the needs of people who are facing those high energy bills at the moment. It is this Government who are showing that they are prepared to take action on the real priorities of my constituents and this country. The spending proposals from the Opposition show, regrettably, just how far they remain from being a credible party of Government again.