Farmers may never forgive Labor for changing inheritance tax rules on farmland, the Conservative Party has claimed, saying there was a “palpable” sense of betrayal in rural communities.

Shadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins said farmers faced a threat from a “socialist city government that doesn’t understand or care about the rural way of life”.

But Food Safety Minister Daniel Zeichner warned MPs against the false claims which he said had caused “real fear” in farming communities.

Speaking from the Outbox for the first time since her appointment by Kemi Badenoch last week, Ms Atkins said the government’s three-policy approach had seriously hit farmers’ levels of confidence in the Labor Party.

She drew attention to the increase in employers’ national insurance, the accelerated reduction of direct payments to farmers and the removal of inheritance tax relief on agricultural land, which was poorly received by farmers.

The Conservative MP said that while she supported cracking down on potential abuses of the tax system, which would bring an end to the introduction of inheritance tax on farmland, she said its poor design would impact on farmers.

Ms Atkins told the House of Commons: “The way the Chancellor has designed this policy means it is the tenant farmers and farmers in the middle who will struggle, not the wealthier ones. »

She added: “This morning I asked farmers on social media to send me details of how this policy would affect them and their businesses. This made for distressing reading. Farmers are furious, anxious, even upset by these changes.

“They feel like the government is attacking them and their families’ livelihoods, when all they and their ancestors did was work hard, follow the rules and feed us. »

Under Labor policy, the 100% relief for family farms would be limited to the first £1 million of combined agricultural and commercial property.

For anything over this amount, landowners will pay a tax rate of 20%, instead of the standard 40% rate of Inheritance Tax (IHT) applied to other land and properties.

The government said the reforms would only affect 2,000 estates each year, with smaller farms not affected by the changes.

Ms Atkins went on to say: “The feeling of betrayal is palpable. As a fifth generation farmer said to me this morning, would you want to work in a place that you knew, over the course of your life, was going to be taken away from you little by little.

“Another (farmer) urged us, and I quote, to ‘fight this vindictive, illogical and ideological tax’.”

Environment Secretary Steve Reed told the House of Commons that farmers should not “believe every alarming claim or headline” about changes to inheritance tax.

The minister said the government is “committed to securing the future of family farms”.

Mr Reed told MPs: “The House is aware that this Government has inherited a catastrophic £22 billion black hole in the national finances, meaning we have had to make difficult decisions on taxes, social protection and spending to protect workers’ pay slips.

“This required reforms to agricultural property assistance (APR).

“Now I recognize that many farmers are anxious about these changes.

“I urge them not to believe any alarming claims or headlines, and I assure them that this government is listening.

“We are committed to securing the future of family farms.

“The vast majority of farmers will not be affected by the changes at all. »

He added: “Our reforms will prevent wealthy individuals from buying farmland to avoid inheritance tax and, in doing so, prevent young farmers from buying land for themselves and their families. »

Referring to backbenchers’ contributions throughout the debate, Mr Zeichner said: “There is real fear because of the way (the data) has been distorted, not because of the numbers.” »

In summary, he continued: “I hear and understand what people are saying, but I have waited in vain throughout the debate for a member opposite to actually address the real numbers, the real numbers that are the actual claims that were made under the APR and are published – not a projection, not a guess, but guess what – by the people who actually collect the tax, by the Treasury.

Mr Zeichner said current claims over the £1 million threshold were between 400 and 500, but a “change in behavior which is entirely likely as a result of this, and perhaps very probably very good consequences” could produce a “very weak”. number of future claims.

“We are convinced that it could work,” added the minister.

Liberal Democrat environment and agriculture spokesman Tim Farron said changes to the tax could lead to “Lakeland clearances” near his constituency of Westmorland and Lonsdale in Cumbria, with large companies buying small companies.

He said: “When it comes to agriculture, you will see the land abandoned to any agricultural use and the house converted into another second home.

“This will be devastating not only for family farms but for rural communities as a whole. »