The MP for Ely and East Cambridgeshire met with local farmers on Tuesday (November 19) as thousands descended on Westminster to protest at the proposed 'family farm tax'. 

Charlotte Cane discussed the effects the government's decision to extend inheritance tax to cover agricultural properties will have on farmers.

The tax will be a cause of concern for the 460 farms in Ely and East Cambridgeshire and comes as new statistics published by Defra revealed plummeting average farm business income fell for all farm types except specialist pig and poultry units in 2023-24.

Incomes fell by 73 per cent to £39,400 for cereal growers, "following two years of exceptional highs", while general cropping farms' average income was 24 per cent lower than the previous year, at £95,300.

Dairy farms' average income fell 68 per centto £70,900, mainly driven by a fall in the farmgate price of milk, and on lowland grazing livestock farms incomes fell by nearly a quarter to £17,300.

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Liberal Democrat MP for Ely and East Cambridgeshire, Charlotte Cane said: “Family farmers in Ely and East Cambridgeshire have already been let down by the Conservatives. We can’t let a Labour government make things harder for them.

“The Liberal Democrats are fighting to protect our rural communities and are calling for the government to axe the family farm tax.

“Farmers are already struggling with high energy bills and bad trade deals. This unfair tax will only make things worse, and I’m urging the Government to think again.”

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