Contributions
715 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefI thank the shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for asking this question. I wish a happy new year to her and to all Members of the House. The reforms…05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefYes, I do believe that we have got the balance right. It is worth noting that the top 4% of claims accounted for over half the Exchequer cost of business property relief and the…05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefThe Government announced the change in December because we had continued to listen to the representatives of family businesses and the farming community. I note that the National…05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefI am always interested in reading Liberal Democrat amendments, even though none of them will ever get passed in this House—not least on this measure, where we have got to the…05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefI thank my hon. Friend for her question and for her work on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on this and many other important issues that affect rural communities…05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefThe figures that the Government have published on this change and at previous Budgets are drawn from actual claims and from engagement with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs on…05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefMy hon. Friend is right to say that we on this side of the House are the true and better representatives of the rural community. There are over 150 MPs on this side of the House…05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefWe will be going ahead with the changes that were set out in our manifesto and that have been announced recently. I think that that is the right thing for us to do.05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefI thank my hon. Friend, too, for her work on the Select Committee, and for representing rural communities, including hers. My understanding is that Ministers in the Department for…05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefOf course, as the tax Minister—that is why I am at the Dispatch Box today, to address a point made earlier—I look continually at what improvements we can make to our tax system to…05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefI thank my hon. Friend for her contribution, for the experience and expertise that she brings to the House as Chair of the Select Committee, and for the important work that she…05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefIf the Government had not made these changes in December, Opposition Members would have been standing here asking us to make those changes. We are coming forward with a revised…05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefYes, I can reassure my hon. Friend that we will continue to listen to, and engage with, the over 150 Labour MPs who represent rural and semi-rural constituencies.05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefWe think that continuing to raise around £300 million from this policy is the right thing to do, so that—alongside the other changes that the Government are making—we can raise…05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefNo, we will not be considering the clawback proposals put forward. Instead, the Government have come forward with the change that was announced in December, which increases the…05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefI thank my hon. Friend for his question, which has given me a chance to return to a question that the shadow Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Dr Hudson),…05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefEarlier in the year, Members asked us about making these changes, and we have come forward with a revised proposal that includes a higher threshold. That is the right thing to do;…05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefI thank my hon. Friend for his invitation. I will pass it on to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and will carefully consider it myself.05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefI had the pleasure of meeting Mr Bradshaw last year. The NFU published statements—both at the time of the announcement and around the turn of the year—welcoming the changes that…05 Jan 2026HANSARDAgricultural Property Relief and Business Property ReliefThe Government have been listening to rural communities, farming representatives and the representatives of family businesses. That is why, after listening, we have come forward…05 Jan 2026