Farmer feared to have taken own life in his barn after Labour budget

A farmer has tragically taken his own life after the Labour tax grab on inheritance, according to reports.

The father is said to have killed himself in a barn after his children were faced with a 20 per cent inheritance tax bill.

It came after Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced on Wednesday in the autumn budget that she will revoke farmland's exemption from inheritance tax (IHT).

An anonymous post on the British Farming Forum said: 'This morning I found my dad in the barn having taken his own life.

'So afraid of the IHT implications on farms he took his own life rather than see the government take half the farm in IHT.

'As a family, we are devastated and in shock! This is the human cost of government policy or potential government policy.

'They claim to be for the working man, no man worked harder than dad. He increased the acreage from my grandad's day and was proud of what he achieved.'

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The author also claimed they believed their father aimed to 'beat the budget by ending his life' and that it is what happens when 'you have built something your entire life and see it robbed from beneath your kids' feet'.

The writer of the post claimed to be publishing anonymously in order to protect their children.

However, the National Farmers Union (NFU) told The Sun it could not confirm whether the claims were true.

The autumn budget has infuriated farmers across the country with a planned protest set to take place next month.

From April 2026, the IHT will be levied Farmer at an effective rate of 20 per cent on the value of business and agricultural assets over £1million in a shake-up of Agricultural Property Relief (APR).

The move has sparked fury and warnings that it could kill off family farms, damage food security and set back environmental protection work, including from TV property guru Kirstie Allsopp.

Farmers are threatening to attend the November 19 demo with their tractors and other large machinery, which could grind the capital to a halt. Farmers last demonstrated in London in March over food security fears.

But the Chancellor and No10 have defended the change, saying little more than a quarter of farms will be affected, and even then they will pay at half the regular 40 per cent IHT rate.

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NFU president Tom Bradshaw, who is meeting Environment Secretary Steve Reed on Monday, said the current plans to change agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) 'need to be overturned and fast'.

Mr Bradshaw spoke of 'the tension, the anger, the frustration' among farming communities.

Jeremy Clarkson, who fronts the highly popular Clarkson's Farm series following his rural travails in the Cotswolds, posted on X: 'Farmers. I know that you have been shafted today.

'But please don't despair. Just look after yourselves for five short years and this shower will be gone.'

Kirstie Allsopp said: 'Rachel Reeves had f***ed all farmers, she has destroyed their ability to pass farms on to their children, and broken the future of all our great estates, it is an appalling decision which shows the government has ZERO understanding of the what matters to rural voters.'

Rachel Reeves said the change was a 'fair' way for the government to raise money for public spending.

She told Channel 4 News: 'On top of the normal inheritance tax threshold that you can pass on - a couple of million pounds including a house - to your descendants, in addition agricultural property relief will now provide another million pounds of tax-free allowance and then above that there is a 50 per cent discount on inheritance tax compared with what everyone else pays.

'We have got to raise money, I feel we've done that in fair and balanced way - 73 per cent of farmers won't be paying a single penny more in inheritance tax.'