The deputy prime minister had to defend the government’s changes to the levy in a bruising House of Commons session, as she stood in for Sir Keir Starmer while the prime minister was away at a G20 summit.
It came a day after more than 10,000 farmers gathered in Westminster to protest against the announcement in last month’s budget.
Politics latest: Rayner faces hostile crowd
The government will reduce inheritance tax relief applied to farms from 6 April 2026. The full 100% relief will only apply to the first £1m of property. Above this amount, landowners will pay inheritance tax at a reduced rate of 20%, rather than the standard 40%.
Farmers will still benefit from reductions, with Labour saying that a “typical” couple handing their estate to their children can gift up to £3m tax-free, and then pay the 20% tax. They will also have 10 years to pay the charge, interest-free.
However, many in agriculture have criticised the decision, and political parties from across the spectrum questioned Ms Rayner on it.
Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat deputy leader and MP for St Albans in Hertfordshire, said farmers felt “betrayed” by the Conservative government and “lied to by Labour”.
Ms Rayner said she was “sorry” to hear that farmers were “distressed by what I would say is scaremongering around what the Labour Party is doing”.
Alex Burghart, the shadow chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster, was standing in for Kemi Badenoch – as it is convention for the leader of the Opposition to stand aside from Prime Minister’s Questions if the prime minister is away.
He asked Ms Rayner about a “typical, mid-sized, 360-acre” farm in Yorkshire – saying a family had spoken to their accountant and been told they could be liable to pay £500,000 in inheritance tax – equivalent to 12 years of profit.
The Tory MP added that the NFU is set to publish a report showing 75% of all commercial farms will fall above the threshold of paying inheritance tax.
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Ms Rayner says she “stands by the figures” the government had previously laid out.
She said: “The vast majority of estate owners will see no change and pay no tax on land valued at £1m.
“Couples can pass on £3m tax-free, and those above the thresholds will pay only half the normal rate, and can pay over ten years interest-free.”
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Reform’s Lee Anderson also criticised the policy, and Conservative Saqib Bhatti asked Ms Rayner why Labour has “declared war on British farmers”.
Ms Rayner said the government “hasn’t declared war on farmers” – before reiterating her response on thresholds.
She also said Labour needed to raise money to account for the “£22bn black hole from the Conservatives”.
