The rural business organisation was speaking following the meeting HM Treasury held with some representative sector organisations on Tuesday – a meeting that provoked a furious reaction from industry groups, with the UK government unwilling to countenance alternatives to the plans it set out in the autumn.

SLE said it was dismayed that the meeting with Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, James Murray MP, and Food Security Minister Daniel Zeichner MP, amounted to little more than a box-ticking exercise for government.

Dee Ward, chairman of Scottish Land & Estates, said: “For the UK government to ignore the farming and rural sector for so long, and then refuse to properly engage once it did finally come to the table, is a matter of severe dismay.

“Across the industry, there was a hope that although the UK government had got its proposals wrong at the outset, there would be a willingness to work collegiately to find a solution that could be accepted – if not liked – by all involved.

“It is now clear, sadly, that the UK government is failing to act in good faith towards the sector or consider any evidence being provided.

“On one hand, the government is elected on a manifesto that states that food security is national security but on the other, the Prime Minister suggests in recent days that a binary choice exists between reducing NHS waiting lists and providing ‘tax breaks for farmers’. That is simply unconscionable.”

SLE reiterated its call for rural impact assessments to be conducted, and noted comments from Scottish Government Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon that changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) could also affect Scotland’s tenanted sector.

Mr Ward continued: “How farming businesses are owned and operated in Scotland is very different from other parts of the UK, particularly in legalities around tenancies.

“The impact of tax reforms is not simply APR, there are also the changes to BPR which will impact all family businesses and have a particular effect on forestry enterprises, as well as diversified farming businesses.  Added to further costs, such as employers’ National Insurance, it has meant that the potential tax bill for many rural businesses has risen substantially.

“As Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon also said in her comments to the Net Zero committee this week, there needs to be better dialogue to see how tenants, not just landowners, will be impacted – especially in the changes around BPR.”

He concluded: “The UK government has shown little willingness to engage with organisations like ours, and the Scottish Government has made it clear that this dismissive approach extends to devolved administrations as well. While the Treasury may have initially misunderstood the impact of these changes, it now feels as though Whitehall is deliberately ignoring the consequences for Scotland’s rural economy.

“For years we have called for mandatory rural impact assessments to ensure policy decisions are made with proper consideration for the realities of rural life. This is a prime example of why such assessments are needed. These tax changes will not just affect a handful of farmers—they will have a profound impact on the future of Scotland’s rural communities and economies for decades to come.”