I would like to make a bit of progress to explain some of the detail behind our policy, which may answer some of the questions that hon. Members are jumping to their feet to ask.
We know that inheritance tax is always an emotive issue, and understandably so. It is a natural desire for people to want to pass on their assets to the people they love when they pass away.
The standard single rate of inheritance tax has been 40% since 1988, and assets have generally long been entitled to nil-rate bands, reliefs and exemptions. A form of relief for agricultural property was introduced on estate duty in the Finance Act 1948, meaning that this duty was charged at 55% of the rate that would normally have applied. A new agricultural property relief and a business property relief were created in the mid-1970s with the introduction of the capital transfer tax. The rate of relief increased over time to a maximum of 50% relief; that maximum rate was then increased to 100% in 1992. This means that agricultural landowners and farmers did not receive 100% relief for almost all of the 20th century, and yet farms passed down between the generations.