Finance (No. 2) Bill Report Stage: New Clause 11

Parliament voted on 11 March 2026 on New Clause 11 to the Finance (No. 2) Bill, a Liberal Democrat proposal that would have required the thresholds for agricultural property relief (a form of inheritance tax relief available to farmers) to rise each year in line with agricultural land prices. The clause was defeated by 292 votes to 174. The practical effect of the clause, had it passed, would have been to prevent the real value of agricultural property relief thresholds from being eroded over time. Because agricultural land prices tend to rise, fixed thresholds gradually pull more of a farm's value into inheritance tax exposure. The government has decided to freeze these thresholds until the end of the decade, and rejecting New Clause 11 preserves that freeze. The vote affects farming families whose estates may exceed frozen thresholds by an increasing margin as land values grow. The Liberal Democrats brought the proposal forward and pushed it to a division, with Conservatives, Reform UK, the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, and the Democratic Unionist Party all voting in favour. Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs voted unanimously against. The Greens also voted against. The result followed a pattern seen in related divisions earlier in March 2026, when the government used its Commons majority to reject Lords amendments to the National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill, reflecting a broader determination to protect its revenue-raising strategy from opposition challenges.