Fortnightly Column for the Bexhill and Battle Observer:
I hope that readers are enjoying the festive season and as this column goes to print on 27 December, I’d like to start by wishing everyone a very Happy New Year.
As I write my last column of 2024, it gives me an opportunity to look back over the last 6 months as the MP for the Bexhill and Battle constituency. I feel extremely proud and privileged to be the MP for this beautiful part of East Sussex. I’m heartened by the real sense of community I’ve found across the villages, towns and in those who work hard to make it a great place to live and work. I’m looking forward to the new year when I’ll be continuing to travel around the 200 square miles of the constituency, meeting more local groups, residents and businesses and working hard to support them.
Over the last couple of months, there has been good news for Bexhill. Firstly, from the Home Office who confirmed they will not be proceeding with an asylum accommodation site at Northeye. I know this proposal caused residents a lot of concern, uncertainty and divide.
We also had great news on the future of the Bexhill Town Board, of which I’m a member, when the new government confirmed that they would honour the commitment of the previous Conservative government to provide £20m of funding over 10 years to deliver real improvements for the town and its residents.
However, we also received worrying news about the main Post Office in Bexhill which is under threat of closure. I immediately raised a petition to gauge local opinion and views and the response, now at over 3,500 signatures, demonstrates just how important the Post Office is to residents and businesses in and around Bexhill. Whatever the future for the building, I will be working with local stakeholders to ensure that all the current Post Office services remain in the heart of the town.
On more rural matters, I know that residents across the constituency care strongly about the UK’s farming sector and the ability of our country to have long-term food security by producing our own food. Therefore, the Labour government’s budget announcement on the Family Farm Tax came as a big shock to residents and farmers alike. For decades now, farmers passing on their farms to the next generation haven’t had to pay inheritance tax on the value of the farm. This was for a very good reason – whilst the machinery and land of a farm might be worth a lot of money, they have much lower profits than people realise. The average income of a family farm last year was just £43,500 pa for the whole family. If you have to pay a £500,000 inheritance tax bill, then that is a decade without the farm making a profit. Many family farmers will have to sell equipment and land to pay the bill, threatening the viability of the farm.
I have met with local farmers and the NFU to discuss the devastating impact of this tax on local family farms and I joined with fellow Conservative MPs to protest this decision by the government and to hand in a petition signed by over 200,000 people.
If the government doesn’t revoke this decision, the consequence of this tax will be that family farms will broken up to pay inheritance tax bills. Families will leave farming for good, and the impact be huge for the rural economy. We will lose land for food production and our beautiful local landscapes, which need to be worked, will no longer be effectively managed. This tax has not been thought through and in the new year, I will continue to work hard to support our local farmers by fighting and supporting their case.
