{"id":271083,"date":"2026-01-30T01:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T01:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/271083\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T01:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T01:30:14","slug":"high-court-grants-urgent-hearing-on-labours-inheritance-tax-overhaul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/271083\/","title":{"rendered":"High Court grants urgent hearing on Labour\u2019s inheritance tax overhaul"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\tWednesday 28 January 2026 12:51 pm<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tWednesday 28 January 2026 12:52 pm\n\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tShare<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tFacebook\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on Facebook\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tX\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on Twitter\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tLinkedIn\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on LinkedIn\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tWhatsApp\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on WhatsApp\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tEmail\t\t\t\t\t\tShare on Email\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><img width=\"742\" height=\"495\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Farmers-e1766572493963.jpg\" class=\"media \" alt=\"Farmers tending to crops in a lush field, highlighting sustainable agriculture practices and rural livelihoods.\" fetchpriority=\"high\" loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"sync\"  \/>\t\tFarmers protesting. Photo by Andrew Aitchison \/ In pictures via Getty Images\t<\/p>\n<p>The High Court has green-lit an urgent hearing at the High Court over the government\u2019s inheritance tax raid on agricultural assets and family firms.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed changes to agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) represent one of the biggest shifts in UK inheritance tax (IHT) policy in decades, following the government\u2019s initial increase of the threshold to \u00a31m.<\/p>\n<p>However, in December, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/labour-u-turns-on-inheritance-tax-raid-after-year-of-farmer-protests\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Labour announced a partial U-turn <\/a>after a year of backlash from rural communities by lifting the threshold to \u00a32.5m from \u00a31m, effective April 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the policy is facing legal action from farmers Thomas Martin and George Martin, the campaign group Farmers and Businesses for Fair Tax Relief, and the professional services firm Alvarez &amp; Marsal, all seeking a judicial review.<\/p>\n<p>The parties are arguing that the government\u2019s decision to undertake only a limited technical consultation on a narrow aspect of the proposed reforms was unlawful.<\/p>\n<p>The claimants say that the lack of a more comprehensive consultation fell well short of longstanding legal standards and breached public law duties towards them and others.<\/p>\n<p>Claims Labour\u2019s policy is \u2018unlawful\u2019<\/p>\n<p>However, as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/accountancy-body-warns-finance-bill-could-criminalise-honest-mistakes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Finance Bill<\/a> is already at the Committee stage, the court cannot order a new consultation or prevent the law from coming into effect. Instead, the claimants are seeking a formal declaration that Labour\u2019s process was unlawful.<\/p>\n<p>Despite \u201cregrettable administrative delays\u201d by court staff, Mrs Justice Lang has ordered the case to proceed to a \u201crolled-up\u201d hearing over two days in February or March 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Partner James Austen at Collyer Bristow, instructed for the claimants, noted that \u201crolled-up\u201d hearings are \u201cexceptionally rare\u201d and reflect the case\u2019s critical importance.<\/p>\n<p>The Speaker of the House of Commons has been granted permission to intervene as an interested party to address matters of Parliamentary privilege and the separation of powers.<\/p>\n<p>Marvin Rust, head of Alvarez &amp; Marsal tax EMEA, added: We work with many family businesses and farms who need certainty. Limiting longstanding inheritance tax reliefs is an important legislative change, which was introduced without proper consultation, contrary to well-established principles. That is not how policy of this magnitude should be made.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI look forward to taking this important case to court to ensure due process is followed,\u201d Martin added.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a class=\"read-more__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cityam.com\/uk-manufacturings-tepid-recovery-edges-forward-as-threats-diminish\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Activity in UK\u2019s embattled manufacturing sector hits 15-month high<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\tSimilarly tagged content: <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tSections\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tCategories\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPeople &amp; Organisations\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wednesday 28 January 2026 12:51 pm \u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0 Wednesday 28 January 2026 12:52 pm Share Facebook Share on Facebook&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[91288,72105,72,132739,11137,176,73,61,31193,60,68109,6189,132740,2900,112412,43,174,175,1650,9990],"class_list":{"0":"post-271083","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-agricultural-property-relief","9":"tag-alvarez-marsal","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-business-property-relief","12":"tag-farmers","13":"tag-finance","14":"tag-high-court","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-iht","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-judicial-review","19":"tag-labour-party","20":"tag-law-firm","21":"tag-legal","22":"tag-litigation","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-personal-finance","25":"tag-personalfinance","26":"tag-politics","27":"tag-uk-government"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}