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  • 📈 Farming Sector Divided Over Inheritance Tax Changes

📈 Farming Sector Divided Over Inheritance Tax Changes

Tesco’s £600m Cash-Out to Boost Shoppers

This is Cliff Equity, the UK’s business newsletter that keeps you informed on what’s important in tech, business and finance in less than 5 minutes

In today’s stories:

  • Farming Sector Divided Over Inheritance Tax Changes

  • Tesco’s £600m Cash-Out to Boost Shoppers

  • Diffblue's $6.3m Funding Fuels Future of Coding Efficiency!

The summary: Labour’s new inheritance tax policy is rattling the wealthy elite while reassuring smaller family farms, promising a fairer shake for public services and a bit less luxury tax-dodging in the countryside.

The details:

  • Labour's new budget proposes inheritance tax changes affecting agricultural and business property, aiming to raise £1.8bn by 2030 for public services, with a 20% tax on property values above £1m starting in April 2026.

  • The policy has stirred backlash from farmers and high-profile voices like Jeremy Clarkson and the National Farmers' Union, who fear it will add financial strain to family farms and potentially lead to higher food prices or even forced land sales.

  • Experts argue, however, that only the wealthiest estates will bear the brunt; smaller family farms often fall below the £1m threshold, and reliefs for couples could significantly reduce inheritance tax obligations for many farms.

  • The change is seen as targeting wealthy landowners who’ve benefited from substantial tax relief without direct farming involvement, potentially cooling the rural property market from becoming a tax avoidance tool.

Why it matters: Labour’s inheritance tax shake-up stirs up more than just fields—it's set to tiptoe into the pockets of the country’s wealthiest landowners, sparking a rare unity among farmers and celebrity landlords alike. While rural estates brace for a bigger tax bill, many everyday farms will likely dodge the worst of it, challenging cries of impending doom. In true British fashion, the fuss reveals how the countryside's future may be a tad less cushy for the rich, with a nudge towards reining in inheritance tax havens.

The summary: Barclays snaps up Tesco Bank in a £600m deal, promising a powerful mix of Clubcard rewards, new financial perks, and a hefty shareholder payout—all set to shake up Britain’s banking scene!

The details:

  • Barclays wraps up its £600m takeover of Tesco Bank, ushering in a ten-year partnership to manage Tesco’s banking operations, while Tesco keeps a hold on its insurance and ATM services.

  • Tesco plans to treat shareholders to a £700m buyback after completing its current £1bn programme—a generous follow-up indeed.

  • With 2,800 Tesco Bank staff and a mountain of deposits now under its wing, Barclays is keen to expand its UK footprint and offer new Tesco-branded financial services.

  • A buoyant Barclays, fresh from a nine-year share high, is thrilled about the Tesco tie-up, touting Clubcard benefits to delight customers and “support millions of households” across the UK.

Why it matters: Barclays’ takeover of Tesco Bank marks a bold push to grow its retail banking dominance in the UK, bringing customers a new fusion of Clubcard perks and financial services. For Tesco, it’s a savvy way to focus on profitable, low-risk services while rewarding shareholders with a hefty buyback. And with 2,800 new staff, Barclays is flexing its muscles to deliver even more to Britain’s high street – just in time to ride a wave of record-breaking profits.

The summary: With a cheeky $6.3 million in fresh funding, Diffblue is revolutionising Java unit testing by making it 250 times faster, freeing software teams to squash bugs and whip up code at lightning speed, all while charming the socks off corporate giants!

The details:

  • Oxford’s Diffblue, pioneers in autonomous AI-for-code, has just landed a fresh $6.3 million, with big names like Citi and Oxford University backing this brainy bot’s expansion.

  • Diffblue’s flagship tool, Cover, uses AI to generate Java unit tests 250 times faster than a human – meaning devs can now catch bugs in a flash and send out smoother software.

  • Rather than relying on LLM-based methods, Diffblue employs reinforcement learning to sidestep security and privacy headaches, winning trust from corporate giants like Citi, Cisco, and AstraZeneca.

  • With a 326% growth in new ARR and a hefty customer base, Diffblue is gearing up to dominate the AI-powered software dev world, setting itself up for stellar growth into 2026.

Why it matters: With Diffblue’s funding, the world of software development just got a hefty boost from a company that’s effectively turned Java unit testing into a stroll in the park—if that park were filled with innovative tech rather than dogs and prams. Their ability to generate tests 250 times faster than a human means companies can dodge pesky bugs before they become full-blown crises, leaving software teams free to focus on more exciting tasks than playing bug detective. In a landscape where efficiency is king, Diffblue is set to reign supreme, transforming the way code gets built and tested faster than you can say “bugger!”

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