The Kirkham Files
Correspondence with Jayne Kirkham MP ~ April 2025
Thursday April 10th 2025
I respectfully request that you supply a written answer to the following question, which is of concern to me:
Do you support the proposed changes to APR and BPR in relation to Inheritance Tax? Please give a “yes” or “no” answer, followed by any reasoning in support of your decision.
Please note that I am a registered voter and I am in your constituency, as I live in Penryn. Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.
Yours respectfully,
Xxxxxx xxxxx, (Mrs.) Penryn voter and resident.
From: Jayne Kirkham MP <jayne.kirkham.mp@parliament.uk>
Date: 11 April 2025 at 9:05:46 am BST
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx
Subject: (Case Ref: JK06752)
Dear Xxxxxx
Thank you for writing to me about the impact of the proposed legislation on agricultural property relief and how it will affect the farming community.
In the past few months, I have met with many farmers from Truro and Falmouth . Since the budget, I have engaged with the farming community to listen and learn about what the changes to APR mean for them and their families, while also engaging with the CLA and the NFU.
I wanted to let you know that I have also represented farmers’ views to the government, raising the issue personally with Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs and DEFRA and Treasury officials during meetings with my fellow Labour Cornwall MPs. I have also raised the issue of the Treasury figures at the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee when we questioned the Secretary of State.
The new rules on inheritance tax are a complex financial issue and they’re a complex emotional issue too; a farm is also a home and the ‘inheritance’ for many farmers’ children isn’t sitting in a bank account, it’s folded into the fields, the livestock, the crops, and the years put into managing the land.
The government has put a record amount of £5 billion into the farming budget. In the coming years Labour will seek a new veterinary agreement with the European Union to cut red tape at our borders and get British food exports moving again; protect farmers from being undercut by low welfare and low standards in trade deals, something that was happening before we got into office; ensure that 50% of food brought in hospitals, army bases and prisons is locally produced or certified to high environmental standards; and provide £60 million through the Farming Recovery Fund to support farmers affected by flooding last winter.
It is true that the inheritance tax rules have required reform for years. The tax loophole that has allowed millionaires to benefit from buying up land needs to be closed. However, I do not want to see family farms unfairly hit and will continue to press the issue with the Treasury and DEFRA.
Farmers have endured many challenges in recent years. Britain’s food security is also our national security and I will always endeavour to ensure that the voice of Cornwall’s rural community is heard at the top levels of government.
Thank you once again for contacting me.
Yours
Jayne
Dear Jayne Kirkham,
Thank you for replying; however, your reply seems to be sincere, yet it is lacking in substance. I am sure no one, of whatever political persuasion, would argue that our Cornish farmers are facing unprecedented challenges, including huge increases in costs of production, increases in taxation, and unwarranted increases in costs to meet net zero and carbon footprint reduction demands by government. To put the demand for farmers to reduce their carbon footprint into perspective: CO2 as a % of the atmosphere = 0.04%; the human part of the 0.04% = 4%; the UK part of the 4% = 0.884%.
I have a straightforward question, which I ask with deepest respect to you as my Parliamentary representative: if the UK government continues to adopt punitive legislation, including “net zero” and other environmental objectives, measures that are being pushed by the WHO, the WEF, the PRA (Prudential Regulation Authority) and other unelected NGOs, to the extent that our food security is under threat, would you be willing to resign in protest? Would you be willing to stand up for British farming and our national food security?
Yours respectfully,
Xxxxxx Xxxxx, Penryn resident and voter
Dear Xxxxxx,
Thank you for your e-mail.
I do not agree with the premise of your question as I believe the drive to net zero is fully compatible with food security. In fact, I would argue that refusing to deal with climate change is far more likely to undermine the ability of the planet to produce the food required for its inhabitants, including in the UK.
I think we will just have to accept that we disagree on this issue.
Yours
Jayne
Farmers Movement Cornwall decision is: CASE CLOSED