Children on tractors lead thousands of farmers in protest over inheritance tax

Thousands of farmers descended on Westminster to protest tax changes today.

About 1,800 National Farmers’ Union (NFU) members – three times as many as originally planned – took part in a demonstration at plans in the government’s Budget to impose inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1 million.

Organisers estimate that more than 10,000 people are marching the streets.

Protesters displayed signs and banners which made it clear what they think of Labour’s plans.

One striking banner read: ‘Stop killing the people who feed you.’

Another read: ‘Stuck Farmer’.

Among the procession were children on toy tractors who led a small march.

Protesters include stars of Clarkson’s Farm Jeremy Clarkson and Kaleb Cooper.

Clarkson told reporters that the tax changes could spell ‘the end’ for British farming.

Cooper, a farmer and media personality, says the new policy will ‘affect us (farmers) massively.’

He added: ‘I think it’s the passing down of your family farm to the next generation.

‘If I want to pass my business onto my child, I don’t know if he can afford to take that on with the new tax bill.

‘It could be unprofitable to make a livelihood off that business – that’s why everyone has come together today.

‘It’s got to the point where it’s going to affect us massively and we need to do something about it.’

Liam Price, 28, a beef and sheep farmer from Wales, is worried land will have to be sold to other businesses to pay the levy.

He will be joining thousands of other British farmers voicing their anger over changes to tax rules announced in Labour’s Budget, with a large-scale protest in central London.

Mr Price told Metro: ‘My personal opinion is we’re going there to show solidarity, to show that we can come together as an industry.

‘But as far as I’m concerned, however long Labour are in, they don’t want farmers.’

The 28-year-old works on a farm near Neath, east of Swansea, which is currently owned by his dad and was previously run by his grandfather.

However, after the announcements made by Chancellor Rachel Reeves last month, he is unsure how much will be passed to him when his father decides to step back.

From April 2026, family farms that had previously been passed on to the next generation tax-free will now be subject to 20% inheritance tax – half of the normal 40% rate.

Mr Price’s family may need to sell a significant portion of their land to afford the levy, he said, and this could come at a price for the country as a whole.

He said: ‘It’s not going to be farmers buying the ground you’re selling. It’s going to be businessmen, which you know – if you’ve got to sell 20% of your land to pay it, it’s a hell of a lot less food being produced.’

The changes have left him wondering whether it makes sense to stay in the industry and whether he should start a family with his partner.

According to the Treasury, a couple who jointly own a farm will still be able to pass on land and property worth up to £3 million tax-free by combining various allowances.

Elizabeth Hanwell, a farmer from Wrexham, North Wales, was up at 4am this morning through ‘wind and snow’ to attend the protest.

She said: ‘They should have left this whole thing alone, just leave it alone!

‘We definitely won’t be deterred by bad weather today, we need MPs right behind us.

‘Nobody has touched fathers for a long time and they need to leave us alone.

‘We live this everyday, it’s our life.’

The new leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, led a group of Tory MPs attending the protest.

She said in a speech: ‘The policy is cruel, it is unfair and it is going to destroy the family farm as we know it.

‘That is why at the first opportunity we will reserve the family farm tax.’

David Exwood, the vice president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), told Metro this number may sound big to the general public but the unique economics of agriculture need to be taken into account.

He said: ‘Farming is this very unusual industry with a very high asset base that you have to have to do it. You can’t you can’t be a dairy farmer without that. You need that.

‘So it has this high asset base and a very low return on that asset. Even though the numbers sound pretty big, the affordability of the tax is very, very different.’

Richard Brown, the son of a farmer who now runs an insurance broker firm in Derby, said: ‘You don’t do it to make a lot of money.

‘Most farmers would be better off selling the farm, sticking the money in the bank, and going and getting a job and finish starting work at eight or nine o’clock in the morning and finishing at four or five, and they’d earn a lot more than they do farming.’

While the government claims the change will affect less than 30% of farm estates, the NFU has said the figure could be closer to two-thirds.

Mr Exwood added: ‘I know countless farmers who are in their later years, in their 70s and 80s, who still own the farm and the business, who had done their tax planning because they didn’t think they needed to do anything.

‘Their tax was just taken care of, and they’re now left with a very difficult problem, but they don’t have much time to sort it out.’

Last Friday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said a ‘vast majority of farms are going to be unaffected by this’, adding: ‘We just need to keep explaining how that works, because I know it’s caused some anxiety.’

The original plans to base the demonstration in Trafalgar Square reportedly had to be changed last week as there was not enough room for the expected turnout.

Mr Price argued: ‘[The Labour government] are saying they’re not taxing the working man. You try and find someone who works harder than a farmer.

‘Because you know, it’s 365 days a year. I work 40 hours a week full time. It’s hard going and it just seems like, you know, they’re trying to finish the industry off.’

A government spokesperson said: ‘With public services crumbling, a £22bn fiscal hole inherited from the previous government and 40% of Agricultural Property Relief going to the 7% wealthiest claimants, we made a difficult decision to ensure the relief is fiscally sustainable.

‘Around 500 claims each year will be impacted and farm-owning couples can pass on up to £3m without paying any inheritance tax – this is a fair and balanced approach.’

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