News

Pembrokeshire MP denies leaking tax changes before Budget

Published

10 months ago

March 6, 2025

LOCAL MP Henry Tufnell has denied claims that he provided his father with inside information regarding upcoming changes to Inheritance Tax and Agricultural Property Relief, which were announced in the autumn Budget.

The controversy arose after reports that Mr Tufnell’s father placed part of the family’s multi-million-pound agricultural estate in a trust weeks before Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the tax changes.

Speaking to The Times last weekend, Mr Tufnell revealed that part of his family’s Cotswold estate had been placed in a trust, with his brother Albermarle as the beneficiary. While entirely legal, the move could save the estate £4m in Inheritance Tax if Mr Tufnell’s father lives another seven years.

The Times reported that Henry Tufnell’s father’s legal tax arrangements could significantly reduce the family’s future tax burden. However, the Mid & South Pembrokeshire MP insists he had no inside knowledge of the Chancellor’s plans.

‘Absurd’ to suggest insider knowledge

In the Times interview, Mr Tufnell defended his actions, stating: “It’s just absurd to suggest that I had concrete knowledge of what was going to be in the Budget as a backbench MP.”

The interview continues: “He admits, though, that he had heard rumours of a change in the offing and did discuss it with his father.

“My dad was the president of the Country Landowners Association, he sits on the board of Natural England, he’s all over what goes on in the industry.

“So when it’s being briefed out that there might be changes, of course I talked to him.”

Taking those words at face value, Mr Tufnell describes a situation in which he heard speculation about a change in Inheritance Tax and Agricultural Property Relief and mentioned it to his father. Mr Tufnell states that his parents’ actions were based on industry speculation and professional advice rather than any conversation he had with them. We accept, without reservation, that Henry Tufnell’s parents acted on that independent advice following widely reported speculation over potential changes to Inheritance Tax and Agricultural Property Relief.

A spokesperson for Mr Tufnell said: “There was talk about changes to IHT, which had been in the media for some time, and industry had been raising concerns about the possibility of it being looked at ahead of the Budget announcement. So, of course, as an MP representing a rural constituency, and as an MP from a farming background, Henry engaged constructively with the farming sector as soon as concerns were raised.”

The Herald asked Henry Tufnell’s office when he discussed the issue with his father and how many other farmers he spoke with regarding potential IHT and APR changes before the Budget. At the time of publication, no response had been received, although Mr Tufnell’s representatives had confirmed that a substantive response was forthcoming shortly. However, since publication, Mr. Tufnell’s representatives have clarified that he views discussions of publicly available information as an important part of engaging with his constituents and that there was nothing improper about discussing media speculation with his father.

At the time of writing, at 6:00pm on Wednesday, we had not received a response to either question.

Legal intervention before response

Before we received answers to our questions, Mr Tufnell’s legal team at Carter-Ruck intervened. In an email at 5:00pm on Wednesday, they urged us not to publish anything until they had received further instructions from their client.

The email referenced correspondence between this article’s writer and Joshua Beynon, Mr Tufnell’s Senior Communications Officer.

We accept that any suggestion that Henry Tufnell had privileged information and acted upon it to benefit a family member is categorically untrue. As his interview made clear, the MP did not possess insider knowledge.

To avoid any doubt, we accept the most favourable possible interpretation of his actions: namely, Henry Tufnell did no more than gossip with his father about rumours, the foundations for which were unknown to him. That is entirely different from having concrete information and acting upon it inappropriately.

If The Times is accurate, his father’s estate has avoided a potential £4m future tax liability. Henry Tufnell will not benefit personally from the arrangements made regarding the family’s Cotswold estate.

**Henry Tufnell with the Prime Minister (Image: Labour Party)**

Tax avoidance and political contradictions

Despite not raising concerns in Parliament before the Budget, Henry Tufnell is now calling for a “review” of the tax changes.

His family’s estate, worth an estimated £20m, has legally shielded part of its assets from the new tax rules, saving a potential £4m. His gilded background was underlined in a gushing profile in society magazine The Tatler. In the profile, Mr Tufnell was described as having the good looks of a Jilly Cooper antihero, while the article referred to his education at Radley public school and Brown University in the USA.

In far less privileged circumstances, thousands of farming families across the UK now face financial uncertainty, including many in Pembrokeshire.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has come under repeated fire for her abject failure to understand basic farm economics. Instead of targeting land speculators who invest in agricultural land for tax relief, the Chancellor’s changes risk breaking up family farms and damaging the UK’s future food security. The spectacle of Labour MPs, including Henry Tufnell, calling upon farmers to act now to avoid paying their “fair share”, as members of the Cabinet call it, is politically “interesting”.

Mr Tufnell never raised the issue in Parliament. On social media this week, he called for “a review” of the policy.

NFU Cymru has lobbied against the changes since the media speculated about the possibility following the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s interview with the BBC on July 30. The union confirmed to us that they heard rumours of the change and lobbied Wales’s MPs to head off Rachel Reeves’s tax grab.

“We face an incredibly difficult situation, but there is still time for the Treasury to stop and think again,” NFU Cymru President Aled Jones said.

“The legitimate proposal we put to the Minister and his officials remains on the table for their consideration, and I urge them to reconsider. It will still enable the Treasury to raise further funds, it will offer a fairer and more balanced way forward, and remove much of the jeopardy for our agricultural sector, including the significant emotional and financial pressures—not forgetting the risks to national food security.”

***Rachel Reeves: Accused of not understanding farm economics by unions***

Health

Resident doctors in Wales vote to accept new contract

Published

39 minutes ago

December 18, 2025

Tom Sinclair

RESIDENT doctors across Wales have voted to accept a new contract, with 83% of those who took part in a referendum backing the agreement, according to BMA Cymru Wales.

The contract includes a four per cent additional investment in the resident doctor workforce and introduces a range of reforms aimed at improving training conditions, wellbeing and long-term workforce sustainability within NHS Wales. The BMA says the deal also supports progress towards pay restoration, which remains a central issue for doctors.

Key changes include new safeguards to limit the most fatiguing working patterns, measures intended to address medical unemployment and career progression concerns, and reforms to study budgets and study leave to improve access to training opportunities.

Negotiations between the BMA’s Welsh Resident Doctors Committee, NHS Wales Employers and the Welsh Government concluded earlier this year. Following a consultation period, a referendum of resident doctors and final-year medical students in Wales was held, resulting in a clear majority in favour of the proposals.

Welsh Resident Doctors Committee chair Dr Oba Babs Osibodu said the agreement marked a significant step forward for doctors working in Wales.

He said: “We’re proud to have negotiated this contract, which offers our colleagues and the future generation of doctors safer terms of service, fairer pay, and better prospects so that they can grow and develop their careers in Wales.

“This contract will help to retain the doctors already in training, and also attract more doctors to work in Wales, where they can offer their expertise and benefit patients.”

Dr Osibodu added that the BMA remains committed to achieving full pay restoration and acknowledged that challenges remain for some doctors.

“Whilst this contract sets the foundations for a brighter future for resident doctors in Wales, we recognise that there are still doctors who are struggling to develop their careers and secure permanent work,” he said. “We need to work with the Welsh Government and NHS employers to address training bottlenecks and underemployment.”

The Welsh Government has previously said it recognises the pressures facing resident doctors and the importance of improving recruitment and retention across NHS Wales, while also highlighting the need to balance pay agreements with wider NHS funding pressures and patient demand.

The new contract is expected to be phased in from August 2026. It will initially apply to doctors in foundation programmes, those in specialty training with unbanded rotas, and new starters, before being rolled out to all resident doctors across Wales.

Crime

Swansea man jailed for online child sex offence dies in prison

Published

51 minutes ago

December 18, 2025

Tom Sinclair

A SWANSEA man who was jailed earlier this year for attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child has died while in custody.

Gareth Davies, aged 59, of the Maritime Quarter, was serving an 18-month prison sentence after being convicted in May of sending sexually explicit messages to what he believed was a 14-year-old girl. The account was in fact a decoy used as part of an online safeguarding operation.

The court heard that Davies began communicating with the decoy between November and December 2024 and persistently pursued the individual, later attempting to arrange a face-to-face meeting. He was arrested after being confronted by the decoy operators.

Davies had pleaded not guilty but was convicted following a trial. At the time of sentencing, police described the messages as extremely concerning and said his imprisonment was necessary to protect children.

It has now been confirmed that Davies died at HMP Parc on Wednesday (Nov 27) while serving his sentence.

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has launched an independent investigation into the death, which is standard procedure in all cases where someone dies in custody. No cause of death has been released at this stage.

A coroner will determine the circumstances in due course.

Farming

Welsh Conservatives warn climate plans could mean fewer livestock on Welsh farms

Published

55 minutes ago

December 18, 2025

Tom Sinclair

THE WELSH CONSERVATIVES have challenged the Welsh Government over climate change policies they say could lead to reductions in livestock numbers across Wales, raising concerns about the future of Welsh farming.

The row follows the Welsh Government’s decision, alongside Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats, to support the UK Climate Change Committee’s Fourth Carbon Budget, which sets out the pathway towards Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The Carbon Budget, produced by the independent Climate Change Committee (CCC), states that meeting Net Zero targets will require a reduction in agricultural emissions, including changes to land use and, in some scenarios, a reduction in livestock numbers.

During questioning in the Senedd, the Welsh Conservatives pressed the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs on whether the Welsh Government supports reducing livestock numbers as part of its climate strategy.

Speaking after the exchange, Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Samuel Kurtz MS, said the Welsh Government could not distance itself from the implications of the policy it had backed.

Mr Kurtz said: “By voting in favour of these climate change regulations, Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats have signed up to the UK Climate Change Committee’s call to cut livestock numbers in Wales, and they cannot dodge that reality.

“The Deputy First Minister’s smoke-and-mirrors answers only confirm what farmers already fear: that Labour, along with their budget bedfellows in Plaid and the Lib Dems, are prepared to sacrifice Welsh agriculture in pursuit of climate targets.”

He added that the issue came at a time of growing pressure on the farming sector, pointing to uncertainty over the proposed Sustainable Farming Scheme, the ongoing failure to eradicate bovine TB, nitrogen pollution regulations under the Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs), and proposed changes to inheritance tax rules affecting family farms.

The Welsh Government has repeatedly said it does not have a target to forcibly reduce livestock numbers and has argued that future emissions reductions will come through a combination of improved farming practices, environmental land management, and changes in land use agreed with farmers.

Ministers have also said the Sustainable Farming Scheme, which is due to replace the Basic Payment Scheme, is intended to reward farmers for food production alongside environmental outcomes, rather than remove land from agriculture.

The UK Climate Change Committee, which advises governments across the UK, has stressed that its pathways are based on modelling rather than fixed quotas, and that devolved governments have flexibility in how targets are met.

However, farming unions and rural groups in Wales have warned that policies focused on emissions reduction risk undermining the viability of livestock farming, particularly in upland and marginal areas where alternatives to grazing are limited.

The debate highlights the growing tension between climate targets and food production in Wales, with livestock farming remaining a central part of the rural economy and Welsh cultural identity.

As discussions continue over the final shape of the Sustainable Farming Scheme and Wales’ long-term climate plans, pressure is mounting on the Welsh Government to reassure farmers that climate policy will not come at the expense of the sector’s survival.