Labor suspends MP Markus Campbell-Savitors over farmers’ inheritance tax revolt
Workers suspended one of its MPS after breaking positions to vote against the party’s plan to oppose changes in farmers’ taxes, strengthening internal divisions over the changes and reviving anger in rural communities.
Markus Campbell-Savors, MP for Penrith and Solway, was the only Labor member to oppose the measure in the Commons on Tuesday night. This proposal – part of the budget decisions – was successfully passed by 327 votes to 182, but more than 80 MPs are banned workers, showing widespread dissatisfaction within the party.
The Campbell-Savors, who represent England’s largest constituency, said they could not support changes to the agricultural property tax rate (APR) which they believed would throw out family farms. The changes introduce a tax of 20 per cent on agricultural land and businesses worth more than £1 million, despite previous assurances from Labor that the APR will be abandoned.
Speaking during the budget debate, he warned that most of the elderly farmers are still making arrangements to transfer goods and are now facing “severe” results.
“I was one of those workers who assured the farmers that the APR will not be affected,” he told the MPs. “I want to be able to walk around my community knowing I’ve done everything I can for them. I can’t break my word.”
On Wednesday, Chief Whist Jonathan Rerynolds told him he had lost the staff whip, effectively kicking him out of the Parliamentary group.
Labor sources have confirmed the decision, making the Campbell-saving the wate mp divided by refusing to bring back the government’s economic plan.
The changes have sparked angry criticism from farming unions and rural MPs across the political spectrum. Opponents say most of the affected farms are small, family-run operations – not “land reformers” – and that the proposed reforms do little to prevent farm abandonment.
High conservation MP Victoria Atkins, the environment secretary, accused of harassment by “attacks on farmers and family businesses”.
“Just stopping their MP who has the guts to vote against their own family farm and business tax proves what they are like,” she said. “Only conservatives will stand up for rural and agricultural communities.”
In the budget, the Chancellor wanted to soften the blow by allowing unused portions of the $1 million apr and Business Procer Supplication Supplication to be transferred between herd partners and community partners. But the deal made grassroots farming groups, many of whom believed the public commitment of the previous shadow party that APR would remain strong.
These changes were first proposed in last year’s budget, giving months of formation to the agricultural sector. Despite this, the previously oppressed workers insisted on targeted economic reforms while protecting the majority of working farms.
The suspension of Campbell-Savors now puts the job under a new relationship with rural voters – a region the party has publicly vowed to trust since winning the general election.
