REVEALED: How Steve Reed told farmers to ‘properly manage their tax affairs’ in question over farmers’ mental health

Defra Secretary Steve Reed has told farmers to ‘properly manage their tax affairs’ to avoid inheritance tax in a question about the budget’s impact on farmers’ mental health.

The MP for Streatham and Croydon North was asked: “You’ve said you’ll listen on this issue of farmers’ mental health and possible suicides, what can the government do to address this?”

Mr Reed, 61, said: “It’s very apparent we have a mental health crisis across the country because mental health services have deteriorated, that’s one of the reasons this government is proposing a mental health hub in every community

“We know too that there’s a particularly high incidence of mental ill health in the farming sector, so we want to support rural communities with those hubs and improve mental health services.

“I think there’s a lot of concern about specific proposals, people have been hearing figures for how many people will be affected that are completely out of proportion with the figures that the government is relying on.

“Those figures are independently verified by the OBR. I want to communicate to people that the vast majority will not be affected and even those that will, by properly managing their tax affairs as any business would do, they can reduce their liability.”

This comes after many farming charities have warned of worsening mental health in farming over the last few years, even before the budget was announced.

Stephanie Berkeley, Managing Director at the Farm Safety Foundation, said: “This is the most challenging time in the industry that I can recall.

“Farmers have been struggling with rising production costs, low margins, extreme weather events, Brexit and now uncertainty about the future of the family farm.”

She highlighted their recent surveys showing 95 per cent of farmers under 40 believe that poor mental health is the biggest hidden problem facing the industry, and 91 per cent of farmers believe that farm safety and mental health are directly linked.

“472,000 people work in farming in the UK – a mere one per cent of the working population – but agriculture accounts for 16 per cent of all deaths in the workplace (HSE).

“In an industry with the poorest safety record of any occupation in the UK, making sure we are looking after our physical and mental wellbeing is vital.”

Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that in 2021 alone, 36 farmers across the UK took their own lives and 22 died in accidents.

Mr Reed was also challenged on why he was so keen to advise farmers how to avoid the tax he was introducing if it was designed to fund the NHS.

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The Defra Secretary was asked: “You’ve said if farmers properly manage their taxes, they can reduce their liabilities and avoid this tax. If that’s the case, what’s the point of it?”

Mr Reed responded: “Any business takes advice so they can properly plan their tax affairs including succession planning and the point of doing that is to make sure you don’t pay too much or too little.”

This comes after many critics of Labour’s farm tax raised concerns over the amount the Treasury predicted it would raise- £520million a year by 2030.

This figure – 50 times smaller than the amount Reeves’ NIC hike will raise – would fund the NHS for one day and five hours, prompting many to believe this move is less about funding the NHS and more about attacking a section of society Labour believe ‘to not be their people’.

Mr Reed was speaking to 500 rural stakeholders at the Country Land and Business Association’s rural conference in Westminster this morning.