Gordon Brown is said to be planning a £300 million tax raid on rural England - it may well spell an opportunity for canny investors, says Tony Booth.

If he goes ahead and scraps the current exemption from local business rates afforded to farmers for agricultural land and outbuildings, it could prompt many to demolish or sell these assets over the next year or so at below market value - just to avoid the high liability impact.

As a result, the Chancellor could generate the equivalent of a land and building plot gold rush as investors move-in on rural England.

The Brown-field proposal

Agricultural land and farm buildings have been exempt from local business rates for more than seven decades.