Tractors block A5 and A14 in farmers’ inheritance tax protest

All those giving evidence said there was no accurate data on how many farmers would be affected by the tax change, saying the government kept using different figures.

The NFU has claimed 75% of farmers would be affected in some way – with Ms Vyvyan previously saying it amounted to about 70,000 farms, whereas the government has said it was more like 2,000.

Stuart Maggs, a tax expert who works with farmers in Norfolk, appeared before the committee and agreed with the 70,000 estimate.

The government has said farmers would have 10 years to pay any inheritance tax, but Mr Maggs said: “This charge is going to be a burden and with agricultural land getting a return of between 0.5% and 1% a year this move will be unaffordable.

“It means farmers will have to sell up and it’ll happen a lot.”

The committee has an ongoing inquiry into the state of British farming.