Inheritance tax changes affecting farmers are strongly opposed by the Skegness group of the Conservative Policy Forum (CPF).

At its January meeting the group agreed that inheritance tax should be scrapped altogether. But, if that doesn’t happen, it should at least be abolished for agricultural land to protect family farms.

The group is seriously concerned that inheritance tax changes will mean thousands of family farms will not be passed to the next generation. If land has to be sold to meet tax bills then many farms will become economically unviable.

It also believes the changes announced in the Budget to Employers' National Insurance Contributions and the increase to the National Minimum Wage will adversely affect the agricultural sector.

Another additional burden to farmers will result from the fact that double-cab pick-up trucks with a payload of at least one metric tonne will no longer be classified as vans for benefit-in-kind or capital allowance purposes. This change will impact on a number of people and organisations working in the countryside, including drainage boards.

The possibility that Budget decisions will also lead to an increased number of farmer suicides is also concerning group members.

Responding to a national CPF survey on Farm and Food Security, the group also expressed its opposition to good farmland being “rewilded”, particularly in important food growing areas such as The Fens.

It also suggested that a voluntary Fair Trade scheme involving price guarantees for UK farmers should be set up, with its own kite-mark.