The Builders Merchants Federation has signed the Family Business UK open letter from 32 trade bodies representing 160,000 firms

Use precise geolocation data and actively scan device characteristics for identification. This is done to store and access information on a device and to provide personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. List of Partners (vendors)

Most of the attention – and anger – since Rachel Reeves’ Budget announcement on inheritance tax (IHT) has focused on the impacts on farmers. But family business owners are facing identical changes to the IHT rules under the chancellor’s plans. It’s vital they start to plan accordingly.

It’s a grand vision that the 64-year-old owner of Lympne Castle has hatched in her attempt to prevent losing swathes of her £500m fortune to the Treasury in a very large tax bill. “The King isn’t political and I actually think he’s a very fair person. He doesn’t need the land, so won’t miss it.”

Businesses are shedding jobs at the fastest pace in four years in the wake of Rachel Reeves’s record tax raid, as economists warned of the rising risk of recession. A closely-watched survey showed bosses are preparing for “worse to come” in the new year amid a “triple whammy of gloomy news” that has seen growth grind to a halt and price rises gather pace.