Desperate farmer spent his final hours working out how to protect his family from inheritance tax raid before he killed himself

A farmer's son last night accused the Prime Minister of having 'blood on his hands' over the government's inheritance tax raid after his father's apparent suicide 24 hours before the budget .

John Charlesworth, 78, was found dead the day before Rachel Reeves broke an election pledge to announce the tax would apply to all farm estates worth over £1m at a 20pc rate.

The grandfather-of-six ran a 70-acre farm on the outskirts of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, which had been in his family since the 1950s.

But pre-budget news predicting the tax raid – ending the practice of allowing farmers to pass on estates without inheritance tax - had 'eaten away' at him and was the 'final straw', his son said.

His son Jonathan, 46, last night told the Daily Mail: 'I'm not sure you could publish what I'd say to ( Keir Starmer ). He's got blood on his hands.

'He's totally destroying an industry we rely on.'

Mr Charlesworth jr said worries about the impact of inheritance tax was his father's 'main topic' of conversation in recent weeks.

He added: 'I didn't think he'd do what he did. We'd discussed the potential impact of inheritance tax a lot. 'We didn't know what was going to come in or at what rate but over the last few weeks it's been the main topic of conversation.'

Mr Charlesworth jr has been running the farm himself in recent years after his father devoted himself to caring for his dementia-stricken wife, Carolyn, 73.

'If she'd gone into a home, it could have eaten up the farm in care costs and that's why my father struggled with her,' he said.

He added that he 'can't see this being the last' time a farmer may choose to take their own life over the hated new policy.

Mr Charlesworth jr, who now looks after the 70-acre farm of sheep and cattle at Silkstone, in the Pennine foothills, himself, added: 'This government has absolutely zero understanding of agriculture let alone how it works.

'They think we're just jumped-up millionaires riding around in Land Rovers but that's not true.

'This government have killed ambition in this country – what's the point of doing well, building up a business, if it's all going to be taken away?'

News of the farmer's death comes as farmers' representatives and MPs warned of the potential mental health consequences of the tax change.

On the day of the budget, farmer Clive Bailye, who runs The Farming Forum discussion website, posted a tombstone image on social media and said: 'In a sector with the highest rate of suicide of any profession, some might think it's time to pass on the farm before this comes in. Is the Government going to have blood on their hands?'

Paying tribute to his 'no-nonsense' father, Mr Charlesworth jr added: 'He was the most kind-hearted person you'd ever meet, my Dad.

'He would do anything for anybody, I don't think anyone had a bad word to say about my Dad.'

Mr Charlesworth first revealed his father's death in an anonymous Facebook post soon after the budget last Wednesday called 'human cost of government policy or potential government policy'.

Speaking earlier yesterday to the Daily Telegraph, he said: 'He [John] was at a low ebb but the Budget was the final straw.

'There's no cash and there's no way of borrowing cash because we don't have the income, we still don't have the income to borrow that sort of money.

'It was really eating at him, this Budget. I think he just woke up in the morning and thought, 'you know what, the Government aren't taking our farm, I've worked too hard to keep this for not just me but my kids and my grandkids.'

'I've had a good life, my wife is on the way out...

'There are two houses on the farm, with 70 acres. We theoretically, with cash, could have £2 million there. If you put a 40 per cent tax over half a million, which was mooted by some people... well it's impossible (not to sell), you can't do it.'

Amid calls for a French-style farmers' protest in Westminster, Mr Charlesworth jr called on farmers to protest instead by withholding their produce.

He said: 'My advice would be that all farmers had a week and didn't sell anything. I think that would do more than any protest in London.'

Ms Reeves said the move to charge 20pc IHT on farms worth over £1m was to stop wealthy people from buying up agricultural land to avoid inheritance tax - but farmers' leaders say many ordinary farming families to sell-up to pay death duties.

Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers' Union has warned something 'has to change' on the policy and said farmers were considering a 'militant' response.

Ms Reeves has defended her tax raid on farmers – part of £40bn of new taxes announced in the budget.

She told BBC One's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: 'Last year, the benefits of agricultural property relief – 40 per cent of the benefit was felt by seven per cent of the wealthiest landowners.'

South Yorkshire Police are understood to have attended the address but do not comment on non-suspicious deaths.