FUW President, Ian Rickman, has said he is deeply disappointed with the Treasury's ‘dismissive response’ to a meeting with farming unions about the detrimental impact of the Inheritance Tax changes for Welsh family farms.

“We clearly outlined the potential economic, emotional and cultural devastation these changes could inflict on farms and rural communities across Wales, and offered our willingness to collaborate with the government and industry stakeholders to address the flaws in this ill-thought-out policy.

“Regrettably, these arguments have fallen on deaf ears. Serious questions remain about the Treasury's own figures and given steep trajectories in land prices and the current and historically low farm profits for the farm types which predominate in Wales, such inheritance tax bills would be unaffordable for a significant proportion of family farms...”