Priti Patel, the Member of Parliament for Witham, met recently with Nicholas Charrington, owner and managing director of the Layer Marney estate, as well as the Stratern family who are local farmers in the area, to discuss the real damage that will be caused by Labour’s Autumn Budget to family owned and run farms and businesses.
Layer Marney estate, which includes the historic Tudor era Layer Marney Tower dating back to Henry, the 1st Lord Marney who was the Lord Privy Seal to Henry VIII, has been under the care of the Charrington family since 1959.
For both the tower and surrounding 120 acre estate to survive, they must continue to evolve with continued investment in maintenance and repair in order to preserve this important cultural and heritage landmark in the mid Essex countryside.
The overarching ambition has been to make Layer Marney Tower self-financing to ensure its long term survival, but these plans which have been the result of years of hard work have now been put in real jeopardy due to Labour’s changes at the Autum Budget to both the agricultural and business property relief schemes.
The changes to the agricultural property relief (APR) scheme, announced at the Autumn Budget last year, slashes the current 100% rate of relief on inheritance tax to just 50% after the first £1 million of combined agricultural and business assets.
Reducing the relief and imposing these changes will devastate family owned businesses and farms, and poses a serious risk to domestic food security and food prices.
Since the changes were announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget, Priti has met with farmers both at their family farms in Essex as well as joining them as they campaigned in Westminster to oppose the introduction of Labour’s Family Farm Tax.
Alongside the devastating impact of changes to both the agricultural and business propery relief schemes, the heritage sector is also reeling from other tax rises introduced at the Budget, with changes to employers national insurance contributions meaning that many now face the possibility of having to cut staffing levels.
A recent survey conducted by Historic Houses, which represents more than 1,400 independently run stately homes and heritage sites, showed that 41% of respondents fear having to make redundancies or pause hiring, with 54% saying they would be unable to develop and diversify their business.
Following her visit to Layer Marney Tower, Priti said:
“Layer Marney Tower has been a landmark in this part of Essex for over 500 years, but its future is now at very real risk due to the political choices Labour have made with our economy following the election.
Labour inherited the fastest growing economy in the G7, with unemployment near record lows and inflation at the Bank of England’s target, but their choices have compromised that progress.
Instead, what we have seen is a Budget that has already delivered a disastrous impact on the economy, overnight completely derailing the years of hard work small family businesses and farms, such as the Layer Marney estate, to plan for their future and invest in their businesses.”
