How the government has turned its back on Scotland's family farms

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November’s UK Budget confirmed what many of us in Scottish agriculture feared: the UK Government is pressing ahead with damaging reforms to Inheritance Tax, including changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR).

Let’s not sugar-coat this. These aren’t technical adjustments buried in the small print. They hit at the very heart of how family farms are kept together and passed on.

APR and BPR aren’t loopholes or technicalities; they are essential safeguards that prevent family farms from being broken up or forced into sale to meet a tax bill.

Remove or weaken them and the outcome is predictable - fragmented land, disrupted businesses, weakened food systems, and added pressure on rural communities already facing enough challenges.

Yes, the Chancellor allowed the £1 million threshold to transfer between spouses and civil partners - a step in the right direction - but a small one, and nowhere near what’s needed.

For months, farmers, crofters and rural families have been warning what the proposed Inheritance Tax reforms would mean. NFU Scotland, alongside the other UK unions, has been absolutely clear: this will damage the very people government claims to support. Ahead of the budget, some of our members took their children out of school to hand-deliver letters to Scotland’s MPs. If that doesn’t tell ministers how serious this is, I don’t know what will.

Yet, despite all of this, they press on with things moving faster, and not for the better, since the Budget. The Finance Bill includes an anti-forestalling clause that places elderly and terminally ill farmers in an intolerable and inhumane position. If a farmer passes on their holding before April 2026 but does not survive seven years, their family could still face a major tax bill. No succession planning should ever be turned into a high-stakes gamble with people’s lives – yet that is exactly what this clause does.

This comes at a time when costs are rising, margins are tight and markets are volatile. When food security is being talked about in every corner of politics. But instead of backing the people producing that food, this Budget risks undermining the next generation’s ability to stay on the land.

We will not be silent. We’ve fought this every step of the way - from detailed briefings in Westminster to standing on top of a combine addressing thousands of farmers. And we are far from finished.

Yesterday, NFU Scotland was back in Westminster, meeting MPs from Scottish Labour, the Scottish Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP to press for removal of the anti-forestalling clause and broader changes to the Inheritance Tax package. There are workable alternatives, set out by independent tax experts, that would protect genuine family farms while still delivering the revenues government seeks.

Strengthening food security is achieved by backing the people who put food on the table. If we’re serious about building resilience, we shouldn’t make succession harder than it already is. Families should be able to keep hold of the land they’ve invested in for generations, and young farmers shouldn’t be facing tax bills that undermine their chances of building a future in the industry.

We will keep fighting - because the future of our farms, our communities and our food security depends on it.

Andrew Connon is President, NFU Scotland