Chamber and committees

I cannot believe the brass neck of the Tories. They trash the economy and leave others to clean up the mess, and then they shamelessly complain. From Liz Truss’s budget to the Covid cronies’ handouts; they have no shame. I wonder what people who are struggling to feed their families, living day to day from food banks, which became a necessity under the Tories’ watch, think when they hear the Conservatives crying foul over policies that protect people from paying tax on assets worth up to £3 million in certain areas.

He needs to make sure that, if his son is investing time in the business, he is getting the fruits of his labour. [Interruption.] If the son is working in the business, and I will come to that, he should be paid, because we have heard way too often of situations where a member of the family who is working on a farm loses out at the time of succession to other members of the family who have done nothing if there has not been succession planning.

Let me be clear, Presiding Officer: very few family farms are worth in excess—[Interruption.]

What is very clear is that none of the tough decisions that have been taken in the budget would have been required at all had it not been for the Conservatives, who ran the country into the ground. They should be hanging their heads in shame rather than playing politics.

I move amendment S6M-15400.1, to leave out from “calls” to end and insert:

“agrees that the Conservative Party should apologise to the country for its fiscal recklessness, which left the public finances in a dire state and required the Autumn Budget to put the country back on a sound footing, and recognises that, despite this, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has continued to put in place inheritance tax reliefs for family farms potentially worth up to £3 million and increased the Scottish devolved budget by £3.4 billion in 2025-26.”

I have already taken an intervention.

Farming communities tell us of their concerns that good agricultural land is changing hands at excessive prices for tax avoidance and also to be used for carbon trading. Polluters are allowed to pollute and then to ease their conscience by planting trees in the wrong place, preventing new entrants from getting into farming at all. That increases the value of farms beyond the reach of the farming community—something that the last Conservative Government did nothing at all about. The Conservative Government also had an underspend for agriculture funding of £358 million over the last three years, withholding support from farmers in England. Things are not much better in Scotland, where the SNP is raiding agricultural funding.

Although the Conservative Party withheld money from all farmers, it is now picking up the cudgels to fight for the very few who have millions of pounds in assets. Those are often large estates, owned by the privileged few.

If this policy has an outcome of ensuring that land holdings are smaller, giving people access to farming, it will have a wider benefit for society as a whole. It will also ensure that those living and working on the land have their fair share of the investment.

Let us be honest—it is the Conservatives who are trying to stir up strife, trying to get those who have modest assets to fight for the privileged few—

Tim Eagle rose—

Thank you, Presiding Officer.

Let me be clear that very few family farms are worth in excess of several million pounds. Indeed, the latest figures show that, across the UK, the top 7 per cent—the largest 117 claims—account for 40 per cent of the total value of agricultural property relief. That shows that it is not all farms; it is the minority.

The Labour Party will put the public finances on a secure footing and that means tough decisions. The £22 billion black hole left in this year’s budget alone has had devastating consequences for the country.

We also need to recoup some of the billions of pounds given to the Tory cronies during Covid. [Interruption.] While citizens followed the rules, the Tories splurged, lining the pockets of their pals, and partied into the night. [Interruption.] Their arrogance is breathtaking.

I am slightly puzzled by the cabinet secretary’s concern about the ring fence being removed. Surely there is nothing to prevent her from putting that ring fence in place for Scottish farmers.

I have a short supplementary question on that. Will the North Sea and west coast stocks be monitored separately so that it will become obvious if there is divergence and the plan needs to be changed?

—and that changes in different stocks could be identified quite quickly.

Can we get a timeline for when the work will be done? My understanding is that the other nations have at least produced drafts, or that the industry and stakeholders are aware of what those nations are looking to do, and that consultation will be taking place. When can our stakeholders expect drafts, and what is the timeline for each stage? When will the Government’s thinking become more apparent?

I have a quick question on the back of the previous question. We cannot see a timeline now. When can we expect to see a draft timeline for when all of this will happen?