'An Attack On The Rural Community' – Redvers Hits Out At Budget Announcements

Tweenhills owner David Redvers has applauded Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony for speaking out against the government's budget announcement that limits inheritance tax for farms to £1m. 

Despite having just overseen another memorable sale at Park Paddocks, where a new record was broken for the highest-priced horse sold at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses-In-Training Sale at 1.3 million gns, Mahony used that platform to highlight changes made in the budget that he says will have a “negative impact on the whole racing and breeding sector” in Britain.

Agricultural property has been passed on to heirs tax-free for decades, but from April 2026, farms and other business property will fall within inheritance tax. Inheritors will have to pay 20% of the value of the agricultural and business property above £1m.

Redvers says that the announcement is “an attack” on Britain's rural economy and the changes made to inheritance tax is just the largest hammer blow to the thoroughbred breeders within the country. Mahony agrees.

“I think that sums it up,” Mahony said. “More immediately, the national insurance rise and changing of the minimum wage is probably going to impact on studs and trainers in particular. The changes to capital gains tax and business property relief is more of a long-term problem. With the changes to business property not due to come in until April 2026, I am assuming there will be a period of consultation on that and hopefully sense will prevail. But look, it seems to be a budget that has gone completely in the wrong direction in terms of business, the cultivation of individual aspiration, economic growth-all the things they spoke about before the election, really. That's where I was coming from [in highlighting the budget post-sale].”

For years, the APR tax relief has enabled small family farms-including land used for crops or rearing animals, as well as farm buildings, cottages and houses-to be handed down through the generations. Redvers says that the changes made in the budget has the potential to render most of his life's work pointless as there would be no other option but to put Tweenhills up for sale, like a lot of his neighbouring farmers have been forced to do in recent years.

He explained, “Nothing has upset me and my apple cart more than this announcement in the budget. My entire life's work has revolved around keeping a family farm-which has been in the family for generations-going. Apart from Hartpury College, which obviously has over 4,000 students, we are the biggest employers in our area. All of the smaller dairy farms have had to sell up because they weren't viable at 150 acres.”

Redvers added, “I am very conscious that I am only a custodian of the place. That has been the driving force for me in business. I have three children, some of whom want to keep the business on and keep the link with the land that we have had for years. This announcement will undoubtedly change the look of the countryside and it's an attack on the rural community. The thing that makes it particularly galling is that the Prime Minister is on the record in saying that this wasn't going to happen before the election. The sense of anger that is building within the countryside is something that he will deeply regret causing.”

Redvers and Mahony acknowledge that the changes made in the budget comes as the latest blow to what is an already struggling cohort of breeders in Britain. Mahony in particular was keen to highlight that, while the Book 1 and 2 sessions to the October Yearling Sale stole the headlines, he is acutely aware of smaller breeders who are on the brink. 

Mahony explained, “There are a lot of breeders who are hanging on by their fingernails. It's great when you see Book 1 and 2 and all of the other sales taking all the headlines, but it's the guys in Book 3, Somerville-it's those sorts of sales that are representative of the smaller breeders who are the backbone of the industry. They are really struggling and this is another nail in the coffin if you like.”

On top of the changes made to inheritance tax, thresholds for employers' National Insurance contributions will drop from £9,100 to £5,000 from April 2025. Employers' NI rate will increase from 13.8% to 15% in April 2025 while the employers' allowance (the amount an employer can deduct from their NI contribution to HMRC) will increase from £5,000 to £10,000. Meanwhile, the National Living Wage increased by 6.7% in April 2025, on top of a 9.8% increase in 2024.

Redvers concluded, “All you have to do is look at the number of British breeders, which is in steep decline, to realise that the future of the industry is in a perilous situation. I can think of a lot of British breeders in this industry who are close to going out of business. That's against a backdrop of a declining economy where people have less spare cash than they used to. I had conversations with two top-notch British breeders in recent days and they explained to me that they are down 20 mares and are barely breaking even. That's not even scratching the surface on the situation. This is a cataclysmic situation here.”