An Aberdeenshire family business could face a £5million tax bill when Labour’s inheritance tax changes come into effect next year, a local MP has claimed.

Gordon and Buchan MP Harriet Cross made the claim during a meeting with a rural business in her constituency where she underlined how Labour’s removal of business property relief would have “catastrophic” consequences.

Ms Cross was told by the business that it was paying £300,000 more every year in National Insurance contributions.

It comes as Ms Cross declared Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) Secretary Emma Reynolds was “ignoring the elephant in the room” after she did not make any mention of Labour’s family farm tax at a National Farmers’ Union-hosted fringe event at the party’s Liverpool conference on Monday

The Labour Government announced in last year’s Autumn Budget that from April next year, the availability of 100 per cent relief for agricultural and business property would be capped.

Assets eligible for 100 per cent APR and assets eligible for 100 per cent BPR would qualify for full relief up to a sum of £1million.

A 50 per cent relief would apply thereafter.

Ms Cross said it was “heartbreaking to hear the devastating impact that Labour’s inheritance tax changes will bring to businesses across Aberdeenshire”.

“A £5million tax bill will cripple any business, no matter the size, in addition to the burden of now having to pay hundreds of thousands in National Insurance contributions,” she said.

“In the Autumn Budget, it is vital Labour wakes up to the catastrophic damage they are causing to our rural communities and businesses.”

Ms Cross responded to there being no mention of the tax at Labour’s conference, saying: “It’s appalling that the new Defra Secretary refused to address the elephant in the room at the NFU fringe event.

“This speaks volumes for the lack of empathy shown by Labour towards our farmers, and the vital job they do in protecting our food security.

“Farming is not just a job.

“It is a way of life that has been passed down from generation to generation.”

Ms Cross said “Labour’s deeply damaging family farm tax threatened the very existence of this”.

She said it must be reversed “to ensure the industry can survive through this UK Government onslaught”.

Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Victoria Atkins has previously listed the “dreadful consequences of Labour’s tax and farming policies”.

She noted that “78 per cent fear their farms won’t survive the next 10 years”.

“Eighty-nine per cent have paused/delayed investment because of the Family Farm Tax,” Ms Atkins said.

She said 61 per cent had considered leaving farming in the next five years.

“Fewer (British) farms and farmers = higher food prices for us all,” she said.

“The country can’t afford Labour.”

Ms Atkins said it was the Conservatives which “will always back British farming”.

She added that her party would axe the tax.