Farmers mull selling up or protests over inheritance tax change

Rachel Reeves also said the change would affect “landowners who are very wealthy, some of whom buy land to avoid paying inheritance tax”.

Tim Jelfs, deputy chairman of the National Farmers Union in Dorset, said he understood the Chancellor’s concern.

The poultry farmer, from Beaminster, said: “This loophole is there where we have lots of city money coming in particularly in Dorset… buying big acreage of land, driving the price of land up to unsustainable figures.”

However, he disputed the Chancellor’s claim that three-quarters of estates would be unaffected.

“That’s going to affect most farms within the country because land values are at an all-time high and the average size of a farm today is roughly about 200 acres,” he said.

“At £10,000 an acre, it’s knocking the door of £2m without outside buildings or house on top.

“On our own farm, we will be looking at somewhere in the region of a £200,000 bill.

“It may mean for a lot of farms having to sell up.”