The MP for Witham has warned that Labour's Autumn Budget will cause "real damage" to family-owned farms and businesses.
Priti Patel met with Nicholas Charrington, owner of the Layer Marney estate, and the Stratern family, local farmers, to discuss the impact of the budget changes.
The Layer Marney estate, which includes the historic Tudor era Layer Marney Tower, has been under the care of the Charrington family since 1959.
The estate, including the tower, requires continuous investment for maintenance and repair to preserve its cultural and heritage significance.
However, plans to make the estate self-financing are now in jeopardy due to changes in the agricultural and business property relief schemes.
The Autumn Budget announced changes to the agricultural property relief (APR) scheme, reducing the current 100 per cent rate of relief on inheritance tax to just 50 per cent after the first £1 million of combined agricultural and business assets.
Ms Patel says this reduction in relief poses a serious risk to family-owned businesses and farms, as well as domestic food security and food prices.
Since the announcement of these changes, Ms Patel has also met with farmers in Essex and joined them in Westminster to campaign against Labour’s Family Farm Tax.
The heritage sector is also feeling the impact of the budget changes, with tax rises and changes to employers' national insurance contributions potentially leading to staffing cuts.
Ms Patel said: "Layer Marney Tower has been a landmark in this part of Essex for more than 500 years, but its future is now at very real risk due to the political choices Labour have made with our economy following the election.
"Labour inherited the fastest growing economy in the G7, with unemployment near record lows and inflation at the Bank of England’s target, but their choices have compromised that progress.
"Instead, what we have seen is a budget that has already delivered a disastrous impact on the economy, overnight completely derailing the years of hard work small family businesses and farms, such as the Layer Marney estate, to plan for their future and invest in their businesses."
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