inheritance tax

A farmer said he hoped the Budget on Wednesday would include help to reduce his costs and called for planned changes to inheritance tax to be scrapped.

In a nod to the local farming community, she said he had a "Starmer the farmer harmer" badge because his decisions around inheritance tax had "left farmers in uproar".

"Substantial tax cuts" are not currently "realistic" because of the "dire state" of the public finances, he said, proposing instead "relatively modest" changes, such as raising tax thresholds and scrapping inheritance tax for family-run businesses.

He added that if Reform wins the next election, it would still make some "relatively modest" changes, such as lifting income tax thresholds and immediately scrapping inheritance tax for family farms and family-run businesses.

King Charles does not have to pay inheritance tax on the money he received when the late queen died, under the "sovereign to sovereign" exemption agreed in 1993 by then Prime Minister John Major.