Henry Snell

Chartered Civil Engineer specialising in flood risk. Have a Springer Spaniel X Labrador and a Springer Spaniel, I try to work them as often as I can.

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

@timfarron Haven’t won yet, have to see what the weather is like today. I’d say odds are in England’s favour but NZ could dig in, wicket would have to miraculously improve though.

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

@jcbaldry @StuartMaggs Absolutely that is the preferred solution. But even though it makes economic sense, it’s difficult politically so won’t happen any time soon.

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

@StuartMaggs @jcbaldry I think the NHS should do this for locum shifts for full time consultants. Due to the 60% tax trap, it isn’t worthwhile for consultants to pick up extra shifts. Make them tax free and it would theoretically cost nothing for the NHS to help clear waiting lists etc…

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

@DanNeidle How would you improve it?

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

“As drafted the #FamilyFarmTax attacks the people it should be protecting and protects the people it should be taxing. It is a bad proposal and should be changed.”

[Stuart @StuartMaggs]

@DanNeidle has a solid analysis but we differ on some important points.

1. Number affected. Gov't says 500/year, Dan says 117/year but accepts there is some rounding up. I think this is significantly understated and the real figure is at least one full generation at 500/year, being 16,000 farms, and then round that up for the people who will need to plan to avoid it as the Government advises they should. The CLA says 70,000 farms, and I suspect the real answer is therefore tens of thousands will be impacted

Not all these people will end up paying inheritance tax, but they are worried about whether they will lose their farms on a death, and are taking advice to find out if they are caught, and what they can do to mitigate the impact.

2. The exemptions claimed to exist for couples require them to redraft their wills, and will not be appropriate for all families at all. Using £2.65m as the couples baseline isn't a bad start, but plenty won't be able to get that high.

3. Family homes are mostly protected by the nil rate bands. Should you treat other passive assets (e.g. stocks and shares) the same way as generational businesses? My view is that if you want to support business growth and investment over the long term, taking 20% of the value if the owner dies is a bad way of doing so.

4. Lastly his key conclusion is that this has more of an effect on artificial tax avoiders than real farmers, and I disagree.

Small scale "avoiders" will be fine, and large scale avoiders have the resources to make gifts, move offshore, etc. Family farmers can't move, they need the income and so can't gift it down generations, and therefore they are the ones who are the worst hit by this proposal.

If the Government were willing to listen, these shortcomings could be removed by amending the legislation, e.g. to allow IHT relief but remove the CGT uplift on death. If however their view is that family farmers have too much wealth and it should be redistributed by an inheritance tax, then it does its job quite well.

As drafted the #FamilyFarmTax attacks the people it should be protecting and protects the people it should be taxing. It is a bad proposal and should be changed.

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

@Eva46988508 @DefraGovUK Many farmers did indeed go bust as a result of IHT. APR was brought for this very reason. Reform is needed to stop people using it as a tax dodge, however Labour's policy will both cripple farmers and still provide a tax break for the wealthy, keeping land prices high.

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

Interesting viewpoint on #APR / #IHT from a @UKLabour member and farmer:

https://t.co/dYdl1T6Bze

#budget @RachelReevesMP

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

@FalconsRugby Pity about the result, but we had a lovely day and thank you to all the players who gave Lily a high five afterwards, made her day!

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

@FalconsRugby We will, thank you

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

Taking Lily to Kingsholm to watch @gloucesterrugby vs @FalconsRugby

[Newcastle Red Bulls @NCL_RedBulls]

Hello from sunny Kingsholm, where we take on Gloucester in Gallagher Premiership action.

The 3pm kick-off is live on Discovery+ and TNT Sports red button, with live audio commentary on the BBC Rugby website and BBC Sport app.

#TrueNorth

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

@herdyshepherd1 Isn’t one of the reasons the size of the local population? i.e. the larger the population the more rubbish is dumped therefore the deeper the archeological remains. That is why some old buildings in cities appear to have sunken doorways as the ground level has risen around them.

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

@AdamCSharp My favourite is:
Twirled - Yorkshire

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

@EdwdPrice @domdyer70 They are protected and can only be culled under strict licence. They are not endangered and as far as I know, never have been.

[Howemill @howemill]

With the current debate between @GeorgeMonbiot and @AllanRSavory leaving folk on both sides struggling to feel heard (including me) I thought I’d try and explain a bit more about why the grazing GM refers to and the grazing AS refer to are not the same - bear with me! 🧵 1/20

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

@M_Andrews91 @Phil_M_Barrett I grew up at the foot of chase end which might make me biased towards that end!

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

@M_Andrews91 @Phil_M_Barrett I will back your claim, although my favourite fort-less hill in the Malverns would have to be Ragged Stone.

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

@AdamCSharp I always thought that was called an Aussie shower, I wonder who started it?

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

@AdamCSharp An Aussie bloke staying at my parents’ hotel told me they call a virgin Bloody Mary a Bloody Shame.

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

@agricontract A couple of years ago I saw the gritter going through Newcastle city centre and following 100 yards behind was the road sweeper picking it all up again.

[Henry Snell @henry_bracket]

@JoeWStanley @FWphilclarke @JPBWFarm @nationaltrust @FGAbiKay It will also preclude (potentially excellent) applicants who for whatever reason aren’t willing it go on TV for a tenancy. Or ones that do apply but the producers decide won’t make “good” television.