Tax changes will risk loss of 125,000 jobs, Reeves is told

Rachel Reeves has been warned that her so-called tractor tax” will not just hit farms but will also put tens of thousands of family businesses at risk along with 125,000 jobs.

- DAVID MADDOX

The main trade body representing suppliers of building materials – the Builders Merchants Federation (BMF) – has become the latest in a slew of trade bodies to sign an open letter to the chancellor warning about the consequences of changes to inheritance tax in the Budget. It has raised serious questions over the Labour government’s hopes of a building revolution that will push forward economic growth.

The 32 trade bodies, representing 160,000 family businesses, made their intervention ahead of a major protest event at the London Palladium yesterday, which was addressed by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

The letter warned: “The changes to these policies will have a severe and long-lasting impact on these businesses and the livelihoods of the millions of people they employ. These businesses and the economy will be starved of much-needed investment, leading to forced, premature business sales and the loss of jobs in constituencies across the country.”