The Rural Bulletin: 2nd January, 2019

Low skilled workers to be limited to short-term visas

Home Secretary Sajid Javid has outlined immigration plans in the event of Brexit, moving to a skills-based system instead of automatically preferring EU citizens. "We are not shutting our doors, we are simply making sure we have control over who comes through them,” he said in a BBC report. 

Free movement will come to an end, so everyone other than UK or Irish citizens will need permission to come into the country, he explained. This will reduce net migration to the 10,000s rather than the current level of 273,000. He will scrap the cap on skilled workers, while low-skilled workers will be able to apply for short-term visas of up to a year. 

Scotland bans burning of plastics

Farmers in Scotland will no longer be able to get an exemption to burn plastics from 1 January 2019, so will have to find other ways to dispose of it, primarily through recycling. Anyone who flaunts the ban will receive a written warning from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, followed by enforcement action if necessary. 

According to NFU Scotland, disposal options include recycling at a local facility, joining together with other farms and using a recycling collector, sending to an Energy from Waste facility, or asking the local authority to take plastics under its commercial waste collection service. 

Ofcom to improve rural mobile coverage

Ofcom has announced new measures to compel mobile network operators to improve coverage in rural areas. Under its plans to auction the new 700Mhz spectrum next year, the winning operators will have to provide coverage from at least 500 new mobile mast stations in rural areas, with discounted auction prices reflecting the investment required. 

While 83% of urban homes and offices have complete 4G coverage, only 41% of rural premises have the same, said John Mortimer, south west director at the CLA. “Today, Ofcom has shown that it is serious about ending the digital divide that has disadvantaged rural businesses and communities for far too long.”

Business rates success for livery yards

Horse livery owners may stand a better chance of obtaining Business Property Relief (BPR) from Inheritance Tax, following a recent court case. The taxpayer in question, Mrs Vigne, ran a livery yard, which upon her death HMRC claimed was not eligible for BPR as it was an investment rather than a trading business.

However, her son argued successfully that she offered services over and above those usually included in DIY liveries – such as worming the horses, providing hay in the winter, removing manure from the fields and carrying out daily health checks. 

Mr Vigne won the case at the First Tier Tribunal, but HMRC appealed to the Upper Tribunal. This concluded that the correct legal tests had been applied and awarded the case to Mr Vigne. According to a report by Burges Salmon, it remains to be seen if HMRC will loosen its approach to BPR application or not. 

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