AS the party conference season is in full swing, we have started to get a glimpse of what the new government has in store for the country.

It is concerning for me as a Conservative to see talk of tax rises at the Budget due at the end of October.

In government we had been trying to bring taxes down gradually for working people, which we were able to do after bringing inflation under control and restoring growth to the economy.

The Chancellor has ruled out increasing income tax, National Insurance, VAT or corporation tax.

While we should not necessarily assume that means she will not go back on those words (just look at what has happened with the Winter Fuel Payment), if we take her at her word that leaves only a small proportion of the tax system available for raising extra revenue.

There is speculation about which of the other taxes Labour could choose to focus their efforts on.

One candidate is Capital Gains Tax, but that is a tax which can punish entrepreneurship and encourage people to hold onto their assets if set too high.

In fact, when Jeremy Hunt cut some rates of Capital Gains Tax in the last budget, the official independent fiscal forecaster said it would actually lead to more revenue for the Treasury not less.

Another worrying possibility is Inheritance Tax.

The rate of Inheritance Tax is already set extremely high at 40 per cent, but there are a number of reliefs and exemptions which could be eyed up by a Chancellor looking for extra cash.

One of particular importance in a rural area like ours is the relief on agricultural property.

For a community like ours which includes many farming families, it makes little sense for government to be charging large tax bills on farms when they are passed to the next generation, forcing them to be broken up or sold off.

Our farmers are not just landowners to be squeezed by the taxman, they are custodians of our environment and our landscape.

They look after many of the public rights of way that we rely on to enjoy the local countryside. And they are vital for our food security.

It is already becoming harder to get young people into farming – it will be much harder if farming families are hit with tax bills they cannot afford.

We want the next generation of those families to continue to farm the land they know and call home, not be forced to sell up and move on.

I hope that the government sees sense and opts to avoid tightening reliefs like this in pursuit of short-term cash.

It might look like an easy option from a desk in Westminster, but the long-term impact on communities and our environment could be huge.

I would urge them to look for greater efficiencies and to focus on things like welfare reform which can both save money and improve lives. Raising taxes on agricultural land would be unfair and wrongheaded.