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Finance Bill

The point that I want to underline is that farm businesses that have invested in the past and that continue to invest in future will benefit from the new annual investment allowance. In many cases, as a result of the package as a whole, they will find that they are better off, rather than worse off. I am not saying that that is the case for every farmer, but we are explicitly changing the system to provide additional incentives for investment. The hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire made a particular point about tenant farmers. On the cessation of an agricultural tenancy, the tenant farmer, I am advised, is often compensated for building works on the land, although that depends on the terms of the tenancy agreement. In future, no doubt, agreements will be negotiated that reflect the tenant’s intended expenditure. We want to adopt a consistent approach that ensures fairness for taxpayers in all sectors. We have not adopted sector-specific measures: we have introduced arrangements that will apply across every sector, as that is the right approach.