A GOVERNMENT rethink on its controversial ‘family farm tax’ on Tuesday (December 23) has been welcomed across West Somerset.

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said the threshold for farmers to pay 20 per cent tax on inherited agricultural holdings would be increased before the levy takes effect in April from £1 million to £2.5 million, with married couples able to pass on up to £5 million between them.

Ms Reynolds said: “It is only right that larger estates contribute more, while we back the farms and trading businesses that are the backbone of Britain's rural communities.”

West Somerset MPs Rachel Gilmour and Sir Ashley Fox, who both campaigned against the tax, welcomed the Government change of heart.

Mrs Gilmour said it was ‘important progress’ following months of pressure from local farmers and rural businesses, but the changes ‘do not yet go far enough’, while Sir Ashley said it was only ‘a step in the right direction’.

Tiverton and Minehead constituency MP Mrs Gilmour said the original Government proposal had caused deep concern across the countryside and risked serious harm to family farms and rural communities.

She highlighted the wider importance of farming and rural businesses to the national economy and environment.

Mrs Gilmour said: “The rural economy is not a niche interest, it has the potential to unlock billions in economic growth, supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, and plays a central role in protecting our environment and food security.”

She pledged to continue to fight in the New Year to see the unfair tax scrapped altogether so family farms could plan for the future with confidence.

Mrs Gilmour, who has recently been made co-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Farming, said she would use the role to continue to champion opportunities for the constituency to benefit from a thriving rural economy and enjoy the beautiful landscape and the food produced in it.

Bridgwater constituency MP Sir Ashley said the new tax risked doing real damage to family farms, not just financially, but personally, and it should never have taken so long for changes to be made to it.

He said: “Farmers, growers, and their families have lived for months under great uncertainty, and for some the pressure has been unbearable.”

Sir Ashley paid tribute to the farmers who had spoken out and to those who backed them.

Exmoor farmer and political campaigner James Wright also applauded the watering down of the tax.

Mr Wright said: “Farmers across Somerset had warned the original threshold failed to reflect modern land values and the reality of asset-rich, cash-poor farming businesses.

“Local farmers told broadcasters and farming publications that the proposals were already affecting retirement and succession planning, with some families putting decisions on hold due to uncertainty.”

Mr Wright said the change showed the scale of concern in rural Britain, but warned the issue was not yet resolved.

He said: “Taxing the transfer of working farms is not taxing wealth, it is a tax on food security and on the families who work every day to provide it.”