Jeremy Clarkson has pulled no punches with his damning verdict on the contents of Rachel Reeves and Labour's new Budget.
The Labour chancellor reeled off a series of supposed money-making schemes during her address on Tuesday afternoon but reform regarding inheritance tax that will directly affect farmers has irked the Clarkson's Farm star.
In one of many major changes to Inheritance Tax (IHT), Reeves announced that from April 2026, farming families will face new financial burdens once they pass their assets down.
Reeves announced on Tuesday: "We will reform agricultural property relief and business relied from April 2026, the first £1m of combined business and agricultural assets will continue to attract no inheritance tax at all.
"But for asset over £1m, IHT will apply with a 50 per cent relief and at an effective rate of 20 per cent.
"This will ensure we continue to protect small family farms with three-quarters of claims unaffected by these changes."
Rachel Reeves and the Budget 2024 have been criticised by farmers
PA
On top of the changes in the agricultural world, Reeves also announced that the inheritance tax personal allowance threshold would be extended until 2030. She added that inherited pensions will now be included in IHT.
Soon after Reeves had finished reeling off Labour's first Budget since it was re-elected into power, social media was awash with complaints from farmers and those who sympathised with the agricultural community.
One such farmer was former Top Gear star Clarkson who blasted the chancellor on X, formerly Twitter, as he typed: "Rachel Reeves. I literally daren’t comment."
When probed by a fan on what his post was alluding to, Clarkson brutally expanded further: "We have a new government. It’s turning out to be hopeless."
Rachel Reeves. I literally daren’t comment.
— Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson) October 30, 2024
The Grand Tour star wasn't the only famous face critical of Reeves and her new IHT measure on farmers.
Kirstie Allsopp of Location, Location, Location fame raged on X: "Rachel Reeves has f***ed all farmers.
"She has destroyed their ability to pass farms on to their children, and broken the future of all our great estates.
"It is an appalling decision which shows the government has ZERO understanding of what matters to rural voters."
The agricultural property relief reform will not only directly affect Clarkson - who claims he narrowly avoided death recently after undergoing a recent heart operation - but his children too.
Clarkson has addressed the idea of passing on the farm to his children, Emily, Finlo and Katya, before - hinting they may want to sell up.
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Jeremy Clarkson runs his own farm in Oxfordshire
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"I keep telling them, 'Listen, when I’m dead, I don’t want you to sell it'," Clarkson told the Guardian earlier this year.
However, he went on to reveal his children's response wasn't what he desired, explaining: "They look at me like, 'Are you joking?'"
Now, when Clarkson does pass Diddly Squat on, his offspring will face more of a financial burden thanks to Reeves.
Elsewhere in the Budget, the chancellor confirmed National Insurance is to rise to 15 per cent from April in huge blow to employers, and that capital gains tax will rise to a rate of 24 per cent.
