Ranjit Singh Boparan has criticised Rachel Reeves’ budget, claiming the increased taxes on businesses and the scrapping of farmers’ exemption from inheritance tax risks driving food inflation further and is likely to harm food production in the UK.
Boparan, who owns a sprawling £5bn food empire ranging from chicken production, brands Bernard Matthews and Hollands Pies and High Street restaurant chains like Carluccio’s and Giraffe, said he relies on a network of hundreds of independent, family-owned farms for the supply of poultry into the UK retail and food service sector.
He says the introduction of a 20% inheritance tax rate on farms worth over £1m risked supply being severely compromised.
Boparan’s businesses employ more than 23,000 people in the UK and Europe. He said the new tax could “force many farms out of business, restrict supply and increase costs”.
It does not align with the Labour government’s aspiration to adopt policies to ensure food security in the UK, he added.
“This budget was a disaster for business and will deliver a final fatal blow to the thousands of small family-owned farms we in the food manufacturing sector rely upon day in, day out. They provide security of supply. This move will create food inflation and food insecurity. It will mean less people investing in food production in the UK.
“Farmers have been hit with massive inflationary rise in costs in recent years like feed, energy, labour, then we had a couple of particularly challenging years with high levels of Avian Influenza and the war in Ukraine. This instability in the supply chain means we’re always vulnerable to geo-political events.”
His public comments come as confidence in the UK poultry sector’s farming base remains worryingly low. NFU survey data from earlier this year suggested 15% of chicken meat producers were either unlikely or unsure if they would still be producing poultry “beyond November 2025.”
Boparan added: “All this has pushed British poultry to breaking point, and I see this latest inheritance tax rise as the issue that will push thousands of farms over the edge, it really is quite unbelievable given what they’ve had to endure. This makes a mockery of the government claiming to want a self-sustaining farming sector that champions British-made food. This tax rise does the exact opposite of that – it kills the sector, stifles supply and ultimately prices will rise.”
On the Budget’s overall impact on large companies, his own modelling suggests it could cost his portfolio of businesses – ranging from food production to high street restaurant brands – “many tens of millions” – which ultimately will be passed onto the customer.
He added: “The retail sector has already quoted it will cost £1bn and in truth our sector won’t be much behind that. £2bn on-cost is going to cause food inflation, all the while we’ve been spending all our time trying to bring inflation down.
“This Budget has done very little to encourage business owners to invest and build. Some businesses will find these changes a burden and it makes it more difficult to keep running smoothly and maintain value. Privately-owned businesses are the backbone of the UK economy and take a different view on long-term investment. All this budget package does is reduce confidence and increases the chances of closures or selling to Private Equity for example, which invariably generates less tax.”