Labor has suspended one of its own MPs after he walked out to vote against the party’s controversial inheritance tax changes for farmers, deepening internal divisions over the reforms and stoking anger in rural communities.
Markus Campbell-Savours, the MP for Penrith and Solway, was the only Labor MP to speak out against the measure in the House of Commons on Tuesday evening. The proposal – part of the budget resolutions – was easily passed by 327 votes to 182, but more than 80 Labor MPs abstained, reflecting widespread unease within the party.
Campbell-Savours, who represents one of England’s most rural constituencies, said he could not support changes to agricultural property relief (APR) which he said would destroy family farms. The reforms introduce a 20 per cent tax on agricultural land and businesses worth more than £1 million, despite earlier assurances from Labor officials that the APR would remain untouched.
During the Budget debate, he warned that many older farmers who were still making arrangements for asset transfers were now facing “devastating” consequences.
“I was one of those Labor candidates who assured farmers that the APR would not be touched,” he told MPs. “I want to walk around my community knowing that I did everything I could for them. I can’t go back on my word.”
On Wednesday, Chief Whip Jonathan Reynolds informed him that he had lost the Labor post, effectively expelling him from the parliamentary party.
Labor groups upheld the decision, making Campbell-Savours the latest MP to be axed from office over his refusal to support the government’s economic program.
The reforms have drawn strong criticism from agricultural organizations and members of state parliament across the political spectrum. Opponents argue that most of the affected farms are small, family-run operations rather than “wealthy land barons” and that the reforms do little to curb tax avoidance by celebrities and billionaires who buy farmland to secure wealth.
Senior Conservative MP Victoria Atkins, the shadow environment secretary, accused Labor of launching an “attack on farmers and family businesses”.
“The suspension of their only MP who dared to vote against their vindictive family farm and corporate taxes proves how out of touch with reality they are,” she said. “Only the Conservatives will stand up for rural and agricultural communities.”
In the Budget, the Chancellor attempted to soften the blow by allowing unused portions of the £1 million APR and Business Ownership Relief Allowance to be transferred between spouses and civil partners. But the concession did little to reassure farming groups, many of whom had believed in the previous Defra shadow team’s public commitment that the APR would remain intact.
The reforms were first proposed in last year’s budget and sparked months of lobbying from the agricultural sector. Despite this, Labor pressed on, insisting that the changes targeted wealthy estates while protecting the majority of working farms.
Campbell-Savours’ suspension now puts Labor under renewed scrutiny over its relationship with rural voters – a constituency the party has publicly vowed to rebuild trust with since its general election victory.
