"We are very worried": Cheshire family concerned their farming heritage will be wiped out

Alex Scapens
·3-min read
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


A farming family that has had four generations work to make a living fear all that could be wiped out by new inheritance tax rules in the Budget.

Audrey and Ray Mayer, 73 and 75, run a dairy farm in the Gawsworth countryside, producing milk and owning about 200 cows.

It was passed down to them by her dad, who started the operation in 1960.

READ MORE: Biker caught by unmarked police hitting shocking speeds of 134mph on Cheshire road

READ MORE: Body found by M62 junction as police searched for missing woman

Days are long, starting at 5.30am and typically finishing at 7pm with extra through the night if cows are calving.

The work is hard but rewarding and shared with their son, daughter and grandchildren.

The couple hope in time the farm will be passed down through these generations but say Labour ’s first Budget places this ambition, common throughout the industry, under severe threat.

In it Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced agricultural property relief will be restricted to the first £1m when businesses are passed down, starting from April 2026.

After that it will be levied at 20 per cent, an amount farmers say is prohibitive to the next generation taking over.

Audrey said: “We want to pass it on to our son and grandsons but this inheritance tax bill makes it very difficult.

“Most farms are worth more than one million with land, stock, machinery and the house - it is not just our business it is our home.

“Money isn’t in the bank it is all tied up in what we use to make a living, even if you can pay it off over time farming doesn’t bring in the money to pay that.

“I don’t know how my son would manage that, we are very worried.”

Audrey and Ray own about 100 acres with their farm and also rent additional land, working seven days a week.

The National Farmers Union say that the new tax rules will cause families to sell off farms and have an impact on the British food industry and food security.

It is feared that instead of family businesses the industry will become increasingly dominated by large corporations and quality will suffer.

A large lobby has started to get the Budget decision reversed.

Audrey said: “It is very bad for farming, not just us we are all together on this. We want it for the next generation and this is a real threat to that.

“My dad built the farm up, we worked for him, it is what you do and then pass it on.

“You put such a lot in and it’s what you love, it would be awful if that was taken away.

“We are a dairy farm and produce milk to a high standard and do our best, I can’t see large farms doing it any better.”

Agricultural property relief has, since 1984, exempted family farms from inheritance tax.

Following the Budget, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said it had pledged £5bn to farming over the next two years.

He also said the ‘vast majority’ of farmers would not be affected by the inheritance tax change although the NFU disputes this.

NEWSLETTER: Sign up for CheshireLive email direct to your inbox here

Latest stories

  • A quick-fix way for Rachel Reeves to tax the wealthy

    Letters: W Gwyn Thomas on how the chancellor could drum up £40bn, while Stuart Finegan says nothing will change while big businesses and wealthy people hold key influence in politics

  • Demand for UK workers crashes in budget aftermath, REC survey shows

    (Reuters) -Demand for workers in Britain collapsed last month after the new Labour government's first budget, a survey published on Monday showed, adding to other signs of the impact of the tax increases on employers. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation trade body and accountants KPMG said their index of demand for staff slid to 43.9, the lowest reading since August 2020, from October's 46.1. "It should be a surprise to no-one that firms took the time to re-assess their hiring needs in November after a tough budget for employers," REC Chief Executive Neil Carberry said.

  • Ministers warned of cuts as ‘every pound’ of spending to face review

    In letters sent by Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones, departments will be told ‘difficult’ spending decisions will be required.

  • America’s economy ‘risks massive Trump slump’

    Donald Trump risks tipping the US into recession if he follows through with the promises made on the campaign trail, a top economist has warned.

  • Five-year mortgages jump by most in a year following Rachel Reeves’s Budget

    The average interest rate on a five-year fixed mortgage has jumped by the most in more than a year in the wake of Rachel Reeves’s record-tax raising Budget, data shows.

  • Private sector experts to have say on government department budgets

    Private sector executives have been drafted in to help scrutinise government spending as Rachel Reeves demands “every pound” brings value for money in her new spending review.

  • Rachel Reeves banks on fixing Brexit to achieve pledged economic growth

    Rachel Reeves will be the first chancellor since Brexit to join a meeting of European finance ministers

  • EU must find billions for arms within a year, defence chief says

    Europe needs to find ways within the next year to fund hundreds of billions of euros in extra military spending to defend against any attack from Russia by the end of the decade, the European Union's new defence commissioner has said. Andrius Kubilius, a former prime minister of Lithuania who has just become the European Commission's first defence chief, told Reuters in an interview that Europe needed a "big bang" of extra funding and weapons buying. "We need to go big with our procurement," Kubilius said.

  • How Argentina came to love Milei’s golden chainsaw

    Over the grunting of a client squatting a stacked barbell in Buenos Aires, gym manager Kevin Acosta carefully explains his support for president Javier Milei’s draconian economic shock treatment.

  • Cost of buying average home in England now unaffordable, warns ONS

    Only richest 10% can afford to buy as figures show average household needs 8.6 times disposable income to meet asking price

  • Hiring slumps to 'pandemic-era level' in wake of budget

    A monthly report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) trade body and accountants KPMG suggested that the tax raid on firms announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves on 30 October forced employers to "re-assess their hiring needs". The findings chime with warnings from business groups and trade bodies in the wake of the budget that the measures would hurt investment, pay and employment. The hike to higher employer National Insurance contributions and the National Living Wage could also be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices, they warned.

  • Boost ‘growth prospects’ with reset, Reeves to tell EU finance meeting

    Rachel Reeves will argue that a more business-like relationship with the EU can help Britain boost its “growth prospects”, at a meeting with the bloc’s finance ministers. Reeves will on Monday address the European Union’s financial heads in Brussels, becoming the first Chancellor to do so since Brexit, ahead of her next overseas visit to

  • China's exports slow, imports decline in November, falling below forecasts

    China’s exports slowed in November and its imports declined, falling below forecasts and underscoring potential weakness in trade at a time when its leaders are striving to boost the economy after the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Imports fell 3.9% from a year earlier, reflecting weak demand from industries and consumers. With exports outpacing imports, China’s trade surplus rose to $97.4 billion.

  • China's inflation weakens as new risks cloud horizon

    BEIJING (Reuters) -China's consumer inflation hit a five-month low in November as fresh food prices pulled back while factory deflation persisted, suggesting Beijing's recent efforts to shore up faltering economic demand are having only limited impact. The world's second-largest economy is bracing for likely fresh tariffs from a second Donald Trump White House and still dealing with other headwinds, suggesting more policy stimulus will be needed to shore up fragile growth. The consumer price index rose 0.2% last month year-on-year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday, below the 0.3% increase in October and a 0.5% rise forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.

  • Voting against the Budget will be ‘albatross’ around Labour’s neck, says Swinney

    The SNP remain short of a majority and will have to seek support from other parties to pass the Budget.

  • Labour’s business backers – where are they now?

    Labour won the public backing of over 120 business chiefs in a letter before the election – but the enthusiasm of those executives appears to have dimmed since then. City AM tried to track them down. It was a letter that seemed to signal a tectonic shift in British politics when it landed in newspapers

  • China plots spending spree to battle economic slowdown

    China is planning a spending spree aimed at boosting its ailing economy after a meeting of its ruling body signalled it would adopt a more “relaxed” approach to interest rates.

  • Ron Paul Wants Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy-Led DOGE To Eliminate This Program Of 'Immoral Transfer Of Wealth'

    Ron Paul, a former U.S. Congressman, has an "easy" suggestion for Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) co-lead Vivek Ramaswamy. What Happened: Paul urged the elimination of foreign aid, highlighting its economic and moral implications. In a post on X on Saturday, Paul criticized the practice of redirecting funds from American citizens to affluent individuals in poorer nations. Paul emphasized that foreign aid involves taking money from the U.S. poor and mid

  • Economists Say Trudeau’s Government Will Break Fiscal Target

    (Bloomberg) -- Most economists say they expect Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government will break its self-imposed fiscal constraints as deficits in Canada continue to deepen.Most Read from BloombergBrace for a Nationwide Shuffle of Corporate HeadquartersA Chicago Skyscraper Cements the Legacy of a Visionary Postmodern ArchitectCloud Computing Tax Threatens Chicago’s Silicon Valley AmbitionsNYC’s Run-Down Bus Terminal Gets Approval for $10 Billion RevampKansas City Looks Back on its Long, Cos

  • Trump is inheriting a worse economy than the last time he took office

    From the job market to consumer spending, things are actually worse than the last time Trump took office.