Sussex MP tells Tory party conference that axing inheritance tax would top his list

A Sussex MP and Treasury Minister has suggested that the Government should abolish inheritance tax.

Speaking at the Conservative Party Conference, Andrew Griffith who is the MP for Arundel and the South Downs, said that of all the choice of taxes to axe the ‘death levy’ would be at the top of his list.

Mr Griffith told a Centre for Policy Studies meeting: “I have lots of my fantastic local association [members] with me here and they will know because they asked me at my selection meeting 27 months ago which tax, if I had the choice, I would most like to see eliminated. History will record it was inheritance tax.”

Inheritance Tax is a tax on the estate (the property, money and possessions) of someone who has died. There’s normally no Inheritance Tax to pay if either

the value of your estate is below the £325,000 threshold or you leave everything above the £325,000 threshold to your spouse, civil partner, a charity or a community amateur sports club. If you leave your home to your children (including adopted, foster or stepchildren) or grandchildren your threshold can increase to £500,000.

The standard Inheritance Tax rate is 40 per cent which is charged on the part of your estate that’s above the threshold.

Defending the Chancellor’s mini budget last week, Mr Griffith told SussexWorld and its weekly newspapers: “This is a time of immense global market volatility driven by Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Covid hangover, and a super strong dollar due in part to the US having much greater energy self-reliance.

The Government and the independent Bank of England are working exceptionally closely together to provide certainty and stability where we can.

“The cost of not acting would have been far higher. The timing imperative of the Growth Plan announcement was to give families and businesses certainty ahead of energy prices rising at the start of October. Our energy package caps the cost of energy avoiding the collapse of businesses and the destruction of consumer confidence, and means that families can afford to heat their homes at this difficult time. It was right to act, and we needed to do so quickly.”

“The Government is now working at pace to show the markets how our Growth Plan and spending discipline will reduce borrowing to GDP in the medium term. But we already start from a strong position with the second lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7 today.”