A CUMBRIAN MP has spoken out in Parliament against the Chancellors planned changes to inheritance tax- saying he is 'simply not prepared to break his word' to the many farming families in his constituency.

Penrith and Solway Labour MP Markus Campbell Savours spoke out against plans brought by the Labour government, saying if today, December 4 were the 'real vote' he would 'vote against the Government’s plans'.

Speaking in the Commons, the MP said: “I have spent the last few weeks speaking with farmers in Penrith and Solway, trying to understand the full impact of the inheritance tax proposals knowing that I have months left to engage DEFRA and the Treasury and seek important amendments.

"And, let me be clear, if today was the real vote, I would vote against the Government’s plans. I’m no rebel. I’m a moderate.

"But during the election, I read what I thought were assurances from my party that we had no plans to introduce changes to APR (agricultural property relief). On this basis, I reassured farmers, in my constituency that we would not.

"Now I am simply not prepared to break my word. I am told that there is no Labour MP in the country with as many farms as I do in Penrith and Solway. And I hope my colleagues will understand my feelings on this.

However, Mr Campbell- Savours said the 'decision is simply not being made today' and that the opposition day brought by the Conservatives was 'a frankly irrelevant motion'.

The Penrith and Solway MP said: "Today however, we’re debating a frankly irrelevant motion, from the Conservative Party, a motion which fails to acknowledge how they failed to deliver for my farmers, how they failed to deliver on trade deals on Brexit, how they set budgets for new rural payment schemes but couldn’t make the schemes accessible.

"How they made manifesto commitments for the public sector to Buy British which never materialised, that failed to spend flood prevention money that’s desperately needed by my farmers on the Solway Plain and failed to deliver reforms of inheritance tax rules that farmers know were being abused by non-farmers at their expense.

"I simply won’t walk into a lobby with people who talk a good game on farming but don’t deliver. Madam Deputy Speaker, their motion starts with the words ‘This House regrets’ and yet 14 years of failure don’t even get a whisper.”