A young farmer who gave up a career as a racing driver to join his family farm says the government's “heartbreaking” inheritance tax raid threatens the future of his industry.

Jon Watt, who farms at Eye, near Diss, passionately promotes agriculture to the next generation in his role as a student and young farmer ambassador for the National Farmers' Union (NFU).

But now the 27-year-old fears for the future of his career, as well as other farming families, following a "hammer blow" in last week's budget.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that agricultural property relief (APR) would be cut for farm assets worth over £1m - meaning many family farms will no longer be able to hand down land to future generations without a crippling 20pc tax bill.

The changes have sparked a furious reaction from farmers, and prompted the launch of the EDP's "Fair dear for farmers" campaign.

27-year-old farmer Jon Watt, based at Eye, near Diss, is urging the government to reverse 'devastating' budget decisions on inheritance tax relief27-year-old farmer Jon Watt, based at Eye, near Diss, is urging the government to reverse 'devastating' budget decisions on inheritance tax relief (Image: Simon Buck) As a tenant farmer, running a 160-hectare arable and beef contract farming business with his father David, Mr Watt now shares the fears of many tenant farmers that landowners could be forced to sell up, leaving farm businesses in limbo.

He has joined the growing clamour for the tax changes to be reversed.

“If the tenancy is ended, I will have wasted the last five years building up this farm business," he said.

“This tax benefits nobody. Family farms who have farmed for generations risk going out of business, which is heartbreaking.  

“The taxes those businesses and their staff generated for the government and the business they created for others will be lost.

“The environmental work these farmers are doing to protect the countryside will no longer happen and it will greatly impact farmers’ ability to deliver national food security.”

The NFU rejects the Treasury's claims that around three quarters are farm businesses will be unaffected by the tax changes - and it argues that very few viable farms are worth under £1m, which "could buy 50 acres and a house today". 

Mr Watt, who returned to his family's north Suffolk farm in 2019 after a spell as a professional racing driver, said: “The government has got this badly wrong if they think they are taxing the wealthy.

“Just because a farm has more than £1m of assets, it does not mean the farmers themselves are wealthy people.

“This is just the value of the assets needed for a farm business to produce food.“

27-year-old farmer Jon Watt, based at Eye, near Diss, is urging the government to reverse 'devastating' budget decisions on inheritance tax relief27-year-old farmer Jon Watt, based at Eye, near Diss, is urging the government to reverse 'devastating' budget decisions on inheritance tax relief (Image: Simon Buck) He added: “Farming is an amazing career. There is so much variety to the job and so many opportunities for young people willing to work hard.

“But this is a devastating budget for farmers and this could bring a big change.

“We have been blatantly lied to by the government. They said they would not remove APR and BPR, but they have done it anyway.

“When say they say one thing and do the complete opposite it removes that stability and confidence to invest in the future.

“The government needs to go back and reverse the decisions they have made.”