Thousands of farmers are protesting about inheritance tax – here’s why

Parts of central London will be brought to a standstill tomorrow by the biggest protest the Labour government has faced so far.

Between 10,000 and 40,000 farmers are expected to turn up to the demonstration in Westminster including Jeremy Clarkson.

The procession from Whitehall to Parliament Square will be spearheaded by children riding toy tractors, with participants told not to bring real machinery.

The farmers’ anger traces back to the Autumn Budget announcements three weeks ago, which include changes to inheritance tax.

The government also said it will speed up the phasing out of farming subsidies introduced under the EU, with taxpaer funding instead used to support ‘nature-friendly’ farming projects.

Farming assets are currently exempt from inheritance tax, but from 2026, those over a threshold of £1 million will be levied at 20%.

The new system is still considerably more generous than for other types of property, where the threshold is £325,000 and the rate is 40%.

The government says the changes ‘are expected to affect the wealthiest 500 estates each year with smaller farms not affected’.

But farmers have pointed to data from the Environment Department suggesting some 66% of of farm businesses are worth more than £1 million.

Rally organiser Olly Harrison said: ‘[The government] don’t know their own figures, they have not done any homework whatsoever.

‘It’s embarrassing for them, how little research they’ve done on this before they brought it in.’

He argued the move could harm UK food production by weakening family businesses, adding: ‘this is what we do, this is what we produce, this is whose future is being taken away’.

National Farmers’ Union president Tom Bradshaw said: ‘There’s a complete disillusionment and distrust, and feeling of betrayal, that (the Government) doesn’t understand food production or even want to understand food production.

‘Farmers are cross, they’re worried, they feel they’ve nothing to lose, I don’t know where this ends,” he said, adding it was within the power of the Government to take the next step.

‘I don’t believe the Government have any choice but to rethink this policy,” he said.’

Supporting the tax changes, campaigner Guy Shrubshole said 35% of land in the UK is owned by corporations or wealthy investors.

Other Defra data suggests a quarter of England’s land is owned by just 2,500 of the largest farms, he added.

He continued: ‘Small farmers deserve all of our support – and they’re not helped by giving tax breaks to wealthy investors who’ve been snapping up farmland as a handy tax shelter, inflating the price of land and starving public services of cash.’

These changes are also smaller in comparison to other reforms to inheritance tax, which include the end of exemptions for inherited pensions and shares on the AIM stock exchange.

Overall, these changes to inheritance tax make up for just 6% of the overall £40 billion in tax increases announced by the government, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank.

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