The boss of the M&S food operation has called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to rethink controversial reforms to Inheritance Tax ahead of this week’s Budget.
M&S Food managing director Alex Freudman published comments to the Chancellor this weekend pleading for Reeves to save family farms, safeguard UK food security and “send a clear message that this country still backs the people who feed it”.
Reeves first laid out proposals to change business property relief in her October 2024 budget statement, which is due to come into force from April and will lead to the full 100% relief from IHT restricted to the first £1m of combined agricultural and business property.
“We see Britain’s food story from both sides,” Freudman said. “One of us represents the farmers who grow and rear the nation’s food. The other buys those products for millions of customers every week. And we’ve come together with one simple message for the Chancellor ahead of next week’s Budget: think again on inheritance tax for Britain’s family farms.
“Tax isn’t the only problem farmers are facing. Weather is increasingly extreme, with this year’s harvest hit by one of the driest springs in a century. Not to mention huge global instability, continuously high energy and fertiliser costs, and planning red tape which is holding back vital infrastructure like water reservoirs, greenhouses and barns.
“Against that backdrop, changes to inheritance tax have injected even more uncertainty and hammered confidence to the lowest levels ever recorded.”
M&S is one of more than 100 businesses that have signed an open letter from the NFU to Prime Minister Keir Starmer outlining how the changes will affect the industry.
Freudman warned farmers could be forced to sell some or all of their business to pay for the new tax burden, making “many farms unviable for the future”.
“Ultimately, these changes make it harder to get affordable, fresh food to families across the country,” he added. “Why would we want to risk our food security in this way and make feeding ourselves so precarious?”
Freudman insisted the Chancellor had options.
“Independent tax experts have proposed a common-sense safeguard: a ‘minimum share rule’. If a farm makes up the majority of a family’s estate, it would be protected from inheritance tax. If the ‘farm’ is just a token slice of a broader investment portfolio, it wouldn’t be,” he said.
“That’s fair. It enables genuine, working family farms to continue producing food for the nation, while ensuring reliefs aren’t abused. And it could raise the same funds for the Treasury. A rare win‑win.”
It follows similar calls from UKHospitality last month, which warned the reforms risked forcing viable businesses to sell up and would weaken rural and coastal economies.
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