Norfolk MPs joined a parliamentary debate to voice concerns over controversial inheritance tax changes which they fear could threaten the future of many family farms.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in last week's budget that agricultural property relief (APR) would be cut for farm assets worth over £1m.

This provoked a furious reaction from the farming industry, which says "very few viable farms are worth under £1m", so thousands of family businesses now face huge tax bills when land is handed down to future generations - potentially forcing many to quit the industry.

During a House of Commons debate on the implications of the budget for farming communities, opposition MPs put questions to Labour's farming minister Daniel Zeichner.

They included Rupert Lowe, Reform UK's MP for Great Yarmouth, who described himself as "an active farmer of 865 acres" and said: "I have yet to come across anyone who thinks that this is anything other than a terrible decision.

"While I feel for the minister in trying to defend the indefensible, would he like to take the opportunity today to apologise to the British farming community and, most importantly, commit to the reversal of this cruel assault on British family farms?"

Mr Zeichner replied: "The honourable gentleman well knows the financial state of the country that we inherited. Difficult decisions had to be made."

James Wild, the Conservative MP for North West Norfolk, asked: "Does the minister accept that agricultural relief was introduced to protect family farms from being broken up, precisely to reflect their role as food producers and custodians of our countryside? Will he rethink this, do what Labour originally promised, and withdraw this proposal?"

Mr Zeichner said farming is "complicated" and constantly changing, adding: "We have to ensure that farming is in the right place to benefit from the changes that we are seeing globally and nationally and, most importantly, that farming can operate in an environmentally and nature-sensitive way."

And Jerome Mayhew, Conservative MP for Broadland and Fakenham, asked if the minister was "surprised by the reaction of the farming community".

Mr Zeichner said: "No, I am not entirely surprised, because people are very fed up and depressed, and they have been depressed for a long time. I understand why it is difficult, but my job is to reassure and talk calmly to people, and that is what I shall continue to do."

EDP campaign

The budget also sparked the launch of an EDP campaign, calling for the inheritance tax decision to be reversed.

Among the Norfolk MPs who have backed the campaign are Mid Norfolk's Tory representative George Freeman, who said: "I strongly urge the government to look again at their ill-thought out policy. Without reliefs such as APR, a farmer's family will often have no alternative but to sell the farm to pay the inheritance tax.

"APR is not a ‘loophole’. It is a specifically designed policy to protect Britain’s family farms from being sold and broken up.

"I am therefore very happy to support the EDP's apolitical campaign and will do my very best to make the case to government to U-turn on this announcement."