Only one Labour MP voted against the government's changes to inheritance tax on agricultural land in the budget debate on Tuesday (2 December). Markus Campbell-Savours, MP for Penrith and Solway, voted against a measure which was not part of Labour’s manifesto and which the party had promised it would not do when in opposition.  

In the debate, Mr Campbell-Savours said:

“Many farmers feared this was coming [and] contacted Labour candidates who reassured them, based on public commitments from the then shadow secretary of state for Defra, that APR would not be touched. 

“I was one of those Labour candidates, and it’s for that reason I’ll be voting against the Budget resolution enabling these changes.” 

His vote against the family farm tax was, therefore, absolutely in line with the platform he stood for election on. The Labour Party, however, is clearly not committed to electoral consistency and has punished him for his honesty by removing the whip which means he will sit as an independent MP for the foreseeable future. 

Roughly 30 other Labour MPs, mostly from rural constituencies, abstained on the vote after a request from the National Farmers Union. This at least sent a message to the treasury and must have registered with Labour strategists. It may have a huge majority, but if the government is going to be in power for more than one term it will need to retain at least a proportion of the rural seats it won in 2024.  

Those MPs who abstained on the inheritance tax vote and those who are becoming increasingly vocal on a range of rural issues are understandably worried about their future election prospects and are publicly highlighting their concern about Labour’s policy agenda in the countryside. The bad news for them is that there is a queue of government announcements in train that are only likely to add to their concerns.  

We are expecting the government’s Animal Welfare Strategy, which is likely to include commitments to ban snaring, introduce new close seasons and remove species from the quarry list, imminently. The Home Office will also be launching a consultation on radical plans to restrict the ownership of shotguns in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, the government’s plans to ban trail hunting will also be out for consultation “early in the New Year”.  

This creates an almost perfect storm for rural Labour MPs as the government faces increasing criticism that it has launched a war on the countryside. The sad thing is that none of this is necessary. In opposition Labour made great efforts to woo the farming and wider rural community and largely neutralised historic concerns about the party's attitude to the countryside. The trust it built over years has been greatly diminished in the past 18 months, but there remains an opportunity to rebuild it over the rest of this parliament. That will not happen, however, if every item on Labour’s rural agenda is an attack on the countryside.