Sky News's Kay Burley skewers Labour minister over 'broken promises'
Sky News Breakfast host Kay Burley hit out at Environment Secretary Steve Reed over his "broken promises" to farmers regarding inheritance tax.
Kay Burley grilled Environment Secretary Steve Reed on Wednesdayās Sky News Breakfast over his promises to rule out an inheritance tax raid on farmers. The MP had vowed to farmers that he would not implement changes to agricultural property relief and said reports that he would do otherwise were ādesperate nonsenseā.
Labour has since reneged on its promise and plans to subject farmers to 20 percent inheritance tax on agricultural assets worth more than Ā£1m.
Burley questioned whether Reed has āmade peaceā with farmers after their April 2026 plans sparked uproar. He argued that āfarmers will still get the best deal on inheritance taxā as they will pay half the rate that other members of the public pay.
The politician also tried to defend Labour's U-turn, insisting that the Government "did not know the state of the finances" when they came to power in July 2024.
Burley probed: āWell, why did you refer to it as desperate nonsense and no intention and making promises when you didnāt know what you were dealing with?"
Reed replied, doubling down on his comments: āThere was no intention before the election to do that because we did not know the state of the public finances.ā
Burley hit back: āWell, why make promises?ā
He said: āThe previous government is being investigated for concealing the state of the public finances. I have said to farmers that Iām sorry we had to make those decisions because of the way that the Conservatives have concealed what was really going on.
"But we have ensured that farmers get a better deal on inheritance tax than anybody else in the country.ā
It comes after the Environment Secretary sought to reassure farmers after Government forecasts showed that 9 percent of agricultural land needs to be axed by 2050 to meet green targets.
Consultation documents presented newly collated datasets and maps outlining how land use must shift in the coming decades as changes occur and populations grow.
In a speech at the Royal Geographical Society in London last week, Reed launched a consultation on the long-awaited land-use framework.
Reed said that the Government "won't tell anyone what to do with their land but help them take better decisions". He added that the Government will instead work with decision-makers across the countryside to develop the "levers" and "incentives" that can drive the necessary changes.
He said: "Until now, there has been no clear direction set by Government on how our land could best be used across England and how to support those who make decisions about land, how to minimise trade-offs and maximise potential.
"We need better data and tools to inform decision-making so we can grow the food to feed the nation, build one and a half million new homes to address the housing crisis, construct the energy infrastructure to secure home grown clean power and, underpinning all these ambitions, protect and restore nature."
He later added that it is "entirely possible" to do all this on England's limited land.
