A Cumbrian Labour MP has been suspended after voting against his party’s plan to tax inherited farmland worth over £1 million.
Markus Campbell-Savours, who represents Penrith & Solway, has been informed that Labour is suspending him from the party whip. He will now sit as an independent.
Last night, Mr Campbell-Savours spoke in the House of Commons before MPs voted on the resolution.
He said he had previously voiced concerns about the plans and promised farmers that agricultural property relief would not be touched.
He said: “In last year’s Opposition Day Debate on Farming and Inheritance Tax, I set out my concerns.
“Over the course of a debate that has raged for more than a year, members across the House have made the case against these changes.
“Changes which leave many — not least elderly farmers yet to make arrangements to transfer assets — devastated at the impact on their family farms.
“Colleagues will agree it is the privilege of a lifetime to be elected to this place.
“Perhaps more so for those of us representing the communities we are from.
“And when the good people of Penrith & Solway decide my time here is up, I intend to walk around my community knowing I did all I could for them.
“But I cannot do that knowing that my constituencies 1,665 farms, the farm workers, and the supply chains that depend on them were let down. Knowing that I broke my word.”
He was the only Labour MP in the country to vote against the plans.
Mr Campbell-Savours said many of his farming constituents emailed urging him to abstain, but he decided to go a step further.
The Government’s plans were backed by the majority of MPs overall, with 322 voting in favour and 181against.
