Farmers shut down Westminster today for a major protest over one of the key tax-raising measures in Rachel Reeves’ Budget.
Around ten thousand turned up to hear speeches and blast the Government over its planned tax raid, which many warn will destroy the long tradition of family farms in Britain.
Jeremy Clarkson said he is begging the government to “be big, to accept that this was rushed through, it wasn’t through out… and back down.”
While Nigel Farage warned today is merely the start “of a real fight”.
The Express explains why farmers are so angry, what Rachel Reeves is saying, and how you can help.
Before Rachel Reeves’ first Budget last month, farms qualified for 100% on inheritance tax on both agricultural property and business property.
However the Government is changing this, introducing a new rule whereby farms worth over £1 million will face an effective inheritance tax rate of 20% on assets above the threshold.
Ms Reeves and Environment Secretary Steve Reed insist that this is both lower than the usual 40% rate of IHT, and that the actual threshold will be £3 million when exemptions are made for each partner and farm property is taken into account.
The Treasury has therefore concluded that just 500 farms will be affected by the changes, and that only these will be hit with the 20% IHT rate, though still raise “about £1bn a year for taxpayers”.
The tax can be paid in instalments over 10 years interest-free, rather than immediately upon the death of the farm owner.
However many thousands of farmers claim they will also be hurt by the tax hike, and passionately reject the Treasury’s own costings.
The National Farmers Union say that £1 million could buy just 50 acres and a house given current land prices, however the average farm in Britain is more than 250 acres.
The Country Land and Business Association have said that capping agricultural property relief (APR) will in fact clobber 70,000 British farms, in turn damaging the countryside and imperilling food security.
A farm survey business conducted by the Department for the Environment suggested that between 30 and 35% of farms in Britain could be valued at over £1 million, putting the figure of those potentially affected between 63,000 and 73,000.
The new rules roll together APR and business property relief (BPR), with the Treasury working out how many farms claimed the former, but not the latter.
Farming minister Daniel Zeichner, and other rural Labour MPs, have agreed there is a “discrepancy” between the Treasury’s figures and the NFU and other pro-farmer bodies.
The CAAV’s Jeremy Moody also rejects the Government’s claim that the real threshold will be £3 million for many farms due to couples allowances and the family home.
He points out that for this to be the case, the farm would have to be jointly owned and neither party have personal assets.
While farmers’ personal wealth is often the envy of left-wingers, many struggle to make a decent income.
Average income in every category of cropping farms declined last year, with the average annual earnings across the board dropping to less than £50,000.
Cereal farms saw an income drop of 73%, with a 68% fall for daily farmers compared to 2022/23.
Most farmers say that being hit by inheritance tax would mean land sales are the only option.
Around 10,000 farmers are believed to have turned up to today’s major farmer protest in Whitehall, with tractors, props and signs condemning Keir Starmer.
Among the speakers on the main stage included Jeremy Clarkson, Kemi Badenoch and Ed Davey. Mr Clarkson took aim at the government, but also complained that public criticism about the cost of British-grown and reared produce makes farmers want to pack it up.
Unlike the recent pro-Palestine and Just Stop Oil protests, the rally was very peaceful with no bad behaviour or spats with the Met Police.
At one point the children of farmers, who would be set to inherit the farms one day, took part in a toy tractor race outside Parliament.
Meanwhile the National Farmers Union held a mass meeting around the corner in Church Hall, after which they encouraged attendees to walk to parliament and demand meetings with their MPs.
Many critics are calling on the Government to reverse the planned tax rise fully,
Jeremy Clarkson said: “For the sake of everybody here and all the farmers stuck at home today, paralysed by a fog of despair over what’s been foisted on them, I beg of the government to be big, to accept that this was rushed through, it wasn’t thought out, and it’s a mistake. That’s the big thing to do – admit it and back down!”
The Conservatives have committed to abolishing the tax the moment they are next in power, saying they rejected it when suggested by civil servants before they left government.
Meanwhile Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said he at least wants to see a revision of the planned £1 million threshold, which will clobber the middle tier of farms.
