WEST Somerset MP Rachel Gilmour expressed her disappointment after Chancellor Rachel Reeves failed to make any mention of the county in Wednesday’s (November 26) Budget announcement.

Mrs Gilmour joined farmers from across Somerset and Devon ahead of the Budget to campaign against the Government’s proposed changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR), also known as the ‘Family Farm Tax’, which is set to come into effect next April.

The Family Farm Tax will see reforms of tax exemptions on agricultural assets with a value higher than £1 million.

The current APR system allows smaller-scale family farms exemption from paying inheritance tax.

However, under the new measures, farmers will be required to pay a 20 per cent inheritance tax on all assets above £1 million.

Despite ‘positive news’ from the Chancellor that £1 million of assets will now be able to be transferred between spouses and civil partners, Mrs Gilmour said she was ‘tinkering around the edges’, because the main reforms were still happening.

Mrs Gilmour said: “Shamefully, both Somerset and Devon have not been mentioned in the Budget document.

“It is incredibly disappointing and disheartening that the Chancellor has failed to understand the challenges facing those in our rural communities.

“Nothing to support local tourism, nothing for rural transport, very little in the way of support for farmers in Tiverton and Minehead.

“The rural South West has been overlooked yet again.

“Along with the local farmers I have spoken to this last year, I was hoping the Chancellor would use the Budget as an opportunity to change course and protect family farms, but instead they face cuts to their incomes now, and further taxation on succession.

“Following through with the Family Farm Tax means family farms across the UK are still under threat, along with our food security and natural environment.”