Farmers’ protest live: Jeremy Clarkson pleads with Rachel Reeves to reverse inheritance tax ‘mistake’ on march
Farmers from across the country have travelled to London this morning to join protests over changes to inheritance tax rules
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Your support makes all the difference.Jeremy Clarkson has urged Rachel Reeves to admit her proposed inheritance tax hikes for farmers was a “mistake” and to back down.
Speaking to protesters on stage in Whitehall, the TV presenter said: “For the sake of everybody here, and all the farmers stuck at home today paralysed by a fog of despair by what’s been foisted upon them, I beg the government to accept this was rushed through, wasn’t thought out, and was a mistake.”
He has joined farmers for a large-scale protest in London on Tuesday to urge the government to change course over its plans, which have been described as a “stab in the back”.
First unveiled in chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Budget, the plans to impose inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1m have sparked fury among rural communities, who have contested the government’s assertion that small family farms will not be impacted by the changes.
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has organised an event in which 1,800 of its members will meet with local MPs at Westminster to voice their anger on Tuesday.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw said an estimated 75 per cent of commercial farm businesses “were caught in the eye of this storm” of a policy which will “rip the heart of family farms”.
165 MPs meeting NFU members at mass lobby
While there is a wider protest taking place from 11am, the NFU is concentrating on a mass lobby event taking place from 9am.
It will see 1,800 members meeting MPs across several locations, including Portcullis House.
They will use the opportunity to share their concerns over Labour’s decision to change inheritance tax rules on farmers.
Speaking to officials on a bus from the West Country this morning, I understand around 165 MPs have agreed to meet members. Those who have not accepted an invitation will be sent ‘green cards’ to come down to meet constituents.
Among those believed to be meeting NFU members is Labour’s MP for Forest of Dean, Matt Bishop.
Yesterday, Mr Bishop, who won his seat with a majority of fewer than 300 votes, said: “We have had to make difficult decisions to navigate the significant financial pressures inherited from the previous government, but I want to reassure my constituents that my focus on farming and rural issues remains unwavering.”
‘Catastrophic’ inheritance tax will impact nation’s food security
Changes to inheritance tax paid by farmers are “catastrophic” for the agricultural sector, a farmer has said.
Thousands of farmers are descending on the capital to protest against planned changes to agricultural property relief.
Farmers are arriving at Church House Conference Centre where NFU members are meeting on Tuesday morning.
Tom Walton, a farmer from Buckinghamshire, said: “My motivation is to try and engage with the Government to make them understand why the changes that they’ve made in the Budget are so catastrophic for the agricultural sector and the nation’s food security in general.
“This is likely to be the first of many engagements that we have with the Government. If today is successful, then that’s terrific, and if not then we will continue to apply pressure.”
NFU president warns tax changes could affect food security
The president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has said farmers will continue to push back until the Government scraps agricultural inheritance tax changes.
He told Sky News: “This will carry on. They cannot have a policy in place which has such disastrous human impacts and think we’re going to go quiet.
“We don’t know what’s next, but I know the membership have never been so united in trying to overturn something in the time that I’ve been farming.”
Asked if farmers will continue on this path until the Government changes its mind, Mr Bradshaw said: “Absolutely.”
The NFU president also warned the tax changes could affect the country’s food security.
He told the broadcaster: “Up until now, any cash which is being generated from a farm business has been reinvested to deliver food production tomorrow, to deliver the food security that Sir Keir Starmer says this country needs.
“But, now, instead of reinvesting in food production it’s going to go into our pensions and into life insurance rather than investing in the very infrastructure that delivers the food security this country needs.”
Why are farm owners demonstrating over inheritance tax?
Thousands of farmers are expected to protest near Westminster tomorrow to express their anger at changes put forward in Labour’s October Budget.
As many as 40,000 people are estimated to attend the event, forcing police and organisers to move the location from Trafalgar Square last-minute.
They will be gathering to protest Labour’s announced changes to inheritance tax (IHT) which will change how agricultural assets are taxed.
Read our full explainer here:
Farmers’ protest: Why are farm owners demonstrating over inheritance tax?
Tens of thousands of farm owners expected to hold major demonstration in London on Tuesday
‘Why would my son want to take on my farm?'
Among those on the coach heading to London for the NFU-arranged mass lobby of MPs is Tom Allen-Stevens, who runs a 370-acre farm near Oxford.
His farm, he says, is worth £5m, and his four children would be facing a £1m levy under the changes to inheritance tax.
Just this year, he had started discussions with his eldest son, who is a farm manager in Hertfordshire, on succession of the farm.
“Why on earth would he leave a well-paid farm job for a farm he’d be immediately slapped with a £1m tax to pay,” he says.
“If I was in his shoes I would find it a very difficult decision to make.”
Mr Allen-Stevens say his arable farm makes around £20k a year, and he runs a farm innovation network alongside it.
He also claims Labour has stalled on several innovation schemes since taking to government.
“It seems to me that they want to get tax from the farmers, but are not prepared to invest in growth or innovation.”
Shadow environment secretary condemns ‘economically illiterate’ taxes
Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins has condemned the Government’s “economically illiterate” approach to tax.
She told GB News: “If any of us care about our countryside, if we want to see the picturesque views that we have – across my home county of Lincolnshire, but (also) across the country – if we care about the quality of our crops, if we care about animal welfare, then family farming in the United Kingdom is critical to achieving all of these aims.
“And this claim that Labour has come up with today to try and divert attention away from the march, that somehow this inheritance tax and this rise in national insurance is to pay for the NHS, is economically illiterate.
“Because, as we know, this is going to raise a fraction of what, in fact, we put into the NHS and are proud to do so.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Environment Secretary Steve Reed have said the reduction in inheritance tax relief offered to farmers would “ensure that wealthier estates and the most valuable farms pay their fair share to invest in our schools and health services”.
Labour has destroyed ‘contract’ between farmers and government, NFU president says
Labour has “destroyed” a “contract” between farming and the government dating back to the Second World War with its changes to inheritance tax, the president of the National Famers’ Union (NFU) has said.
Tom Bradshaw told Sky News: “There’s always been an understanding, a contract, between farming and society, farming and the government, ever since the Second World War, and this Labour Government have just destroyed that contract with the changes they proposed to the inheritance tax.”
He said NFU members are “asset-rich but cash-poor”.
“We’d love to pay more tax,” Mr Bradshaw continued. “If we get proper margins from food production, and we end up swelling the Treasury coffers, bring it on.
“But at the moment the supply chain doesn’t give us those returns that enables us to save the money to pay the inheritance tax that this Government now wants to take.”
He added that Environment Secretary Steve Reed said when he was in opposition that the Government would not change agricultural property relief.
“This industry has been betrayed,” Mr Bradshaw went on. “They said they wouldn’t make this change and suddenly they’ve gone ahead and done it.”
NFU is focused on mass lobby
NFU is putting on coaches for farmers to attend a mass lobby at Church House from 9am.
It will see 1,800 registered members engage with their MPs in a series of meetings where they will aim to get their opposition across on the changes in inheritance tax.
The NFU is also aware of the larger protest taking place from 10am from Richmond Terrace, with president Tom Bradshaw expected to give a speech.
“Our focus for the 19th November remainson supporting our members by holding a mass lobby so they can meet their MPs to stop the family farm tax that stands to cause so much harm to British farming as we know it,” a spokesperson said.
Watch: Farmer predicts serious food shortages
‘Day of all days'
We’re 15 minutes into our journey from Cirencester to London, via a stop at Wantage, when Chris Farr, NFU Gloucestershire county adviser, issues the first rallying call of the day.
Standing between the seats on the half-full coach, Mr Farr said: “As President Eisenhower said on D-Day, this is the day of all days.”
He tells farmers attending the mass lobby that it’s important for everyone to have their say.
“This is incredible personal,” he says. “It is different for everyone, those with big or small farms, we all have a story, and we need them to listen to us.”
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