Farmers’ protest live: NFU leader fights back tears as tractors block Westminster over inheritance tax rise
Hundreds of farmers blocked Whitehall outside Parliament as Sir Keir Starmer also answered prime minister’s questions on the sensitive issue
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Your support makes all the difference.The president of the National Farmers’ Union fought back tears as he explained the impact of tax changes on farmers to MPs, as a noisy protest by farmers took place nearby.
Tom Bradshaw appeared emotional as he told the Commons Environment Committee of the “more severe human impacts” the policy could have, including the risk of farmers taking their own lives.
Under the changes to inheritance tax in Rachel Reeves’ Budget, a 20 per cent levy will be charged on agricultural assets worth more than £1m.
Mr Bradshaw said: “It’s not money. This is a lifetime of work, its the heritage and the custodianship of their farm.”
He gave evidence as hundreds of farmers gathered in Westminster with their tractors in a second protest in as many months against Labour’s plan.
Whitehall was blocked with the parked tractors before a slow procession took place of Westminster as part of the day of action organised by Save British Farming and Kent Fairness for Farmers.
But Sir Keir Starmer appeared resolute on Labour’s policy when questioned during prime minister’s questions.
The prime minister said: “In a typical family case, the threshold is £3m so the vast majority of farms will be unaffected, despite the fear mongering of the party opposite.”
Starmer slams opposition parties for ‘fear mongering’ over tractor tax
Here we go then. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey asks Sir Keir Starmer if he will “change course and recognise the vital role that family farms play” as hundreds of farmers protest with their tractors outside Parliament.
The prime minister accuses opposition parties of fear mongering over the controversial tractor tax.
Responding at prime minister’s questions, Sir Keir said: “In a typical family case, the threshold is £3m so the vast majority of farms will be unaffected, despite the fear mongering of the party opposite.”
However, just minutes earlier at the Environment and Rural Affairs Committee, National Farmers Union chief Tom Bradshaw said he estimates that 75 per cent of farms will be hit by the levy.
Outside PMQs farmers chant ‘no farmers, no food'
The number of farmers and tractors has swelled near Westminster, with farmers at the head of the protest chanting “no farmers, no food”.
But no question to Sir Keir Starmer on farming just yet.
Welsh farmer and YouTuber Gareth Wyn Jones said the inheritance tax change would destroy British farming.
“A lot of these farms aren’t profitable as it is,” he said.
“I think we’ll see bankruptcies and we’ll see less food on the ground.”
Badenoch and Starmer help Farage again - analysis
This is the most tetchy PMQs since Kemi Badenoch became Tory leader.
She still believes that immigration is a good attack line but is hamstrung by the Tory failures on controlling either legal or illegal migrants.
The reason this is now at the top of the agenda is that Keir Starmer’s “Plan for Change” last week did not prioritise the issue.
Added to that his work as a lawyer and opposition shadow minister opposing controls on illegal migration and deportations still makes it difficult for Starmer to defend his record.
In truth though the one person who might be quietly smiling in the Commons during these exchanges is Nigel Farage whose main focus is immigration.
The two main party leaders trashing each other’s reputation on the issue reinforces his claims that Labour and the Tories have failed the country.
Sir Keir begins by welcoming fall of Assad’s regime in Syria
Sir Keir Starmer begins Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions by “welcoming” the fall of Syrian president Bashar Assad.
He tells the Commons: “Can I start by welcoming the fall of Assad? The people of Syria suffered for far too long under his brutal regime.
“What comes next is far from certain. We’ve been talking to regional and global allies to ensure that it is a political solution which protects civilians and minorities, and absolutely rejects terrorism and violence.”
Loophole used by super rich to avoid tractor tax unavailable to many family farms
Most family farms will not be able to benefit from a loophole that is used by the super rich to avoid inheritance tax, meaning smaller estates are likely to be hit especially hard by the government’s tax raid.
In order to avoid being hit with the levy, a widely used tactic by people facing inheritance tax is to pass down assets seven years before death - but many family farms will be unable to do so as a result of the ‘gifts with reservation’ clause.
The clause means that if a farmer passes down their estate but still benefits from it by either living on the property or using the returns to fund their lifestyle, they will still be taxed on it.
However, wealthy investors who have bought up farmland are unlikely to be living on the property, meaning they can pass down the assets and benefit from the loophole.
Read more here:
Loophole used by super rich to avoid tractor tax unavailable to family farms
Many family farms will be unable to benefit from a widely used tax loophole to avoid inheritance tax
What’s happening at the scene of protest now
I’m looking at hundreds of tractors lined up now in Whitehall from Great George Road, where Parliament sits, to Trafalgar Square.
Many are flying British flags and displaying homemade signs. One reads: “We can live without politicians but we can’t live without food.”
The road is closed with police standing at either side of the closure.
The atmosphere is friendly with many farmers bringing their families to the protest.
Although the road is closed, people are still able to walk around the tractors. Many are chatting to the farmers, along with dozens of journalists.
‘Budget really spells the death knell for British farming'
Organiser Liz Webster says farmers are protesting because after decades of government neglect, add that the latest budget is a disaster.
“This latest budget really spells the death knell for British farming as we know it,” she said.
Ms Webster expects more than 500 tractors will eventually show up.
Paying inheritance tax over 10 years will be a ‘very significant shock’ for farms
Inside Parliament, where the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee is taking place, financial experts have been explaing the effects of the changes to inheritance tax, with farms to pay 20 per cent on assets valued at more than £1m.
The levy could be paid over 10 years.
Speaking to the committee, Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser at the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers, a body representing rural valuers, told the Environment Committee on Tuesday the strategies the Government has outlined for farmers to pay the tax are “not realistic”.
“You need to have an adequate, sufficient number of willing, competent, capable, interested members of the family if you’re going to try and pursue some of the lines that ministers have taken,” he said.
“And they have to be people who are going to be able to get on with each other and so some of the strategies that are being outlined are, for many people, simply not realistic, because they don’t have more than one or two children who are involved in the business.”
He added that their modelling shows the cost from paying the tax over 10 years could amount to around three quarters of an extra employee on the business.
“It is a very significant shock on what the business can actually pay out of earnings, leaving only not much, if anything, left for breakfast or for reinvestment,” he said.
‘Town hall rebellion’ sweeping across country
As farmers voice their anger over changes to inheritance tax, we’re now hearing that more councils have agreed motions, putting on the record their opposition to the plan announced in Rachel Reeves’ budget.
North Northamptonshire, Devon, Harborough, Staffordshire Moorlands, Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire councils have backed the farmers with motions.
Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Suffolk councils are all due to holds votes in the coming days.
Mo Metcalf-Fisher, director of external affairs for the Countryside Alliance, is supporting the “town hall rebellion”.
He said: “ The number of councils standing with their farmers in opposing this tax continues to grow and we thank them for recognising the damage this proposal will have on family farms.
“If the Chancellor will not listen and work with the farming community to rethink this policy, the battle with the countryside will simply become a long running sore. That isn’t good for anyone and it’s a very bad look for the government”.
UK produces 62 per cent of food consumed - report reveals today
On the day of the protest, the government has published a report on Wednesday analysing the state of UK food security.
It has found that the UK was 75 per cent self-sufficient in the food that can be grown in this country in 2023, and produced the equivalent of 62 per cent of overall food consumed.
The figures are broadly unchanged over the past two decades, but the report also warned long term declines in “natural capital” – resources such as clean water, healthy soils and wildlife – is a pressing risk to UK food production.
The report also said extreme weather continues to have a significant effect on domestic production, particularly arable crops, fruit and vegetables.
And the UK continues to be “highly dependent” on imports to meet demand for fruit, vegetables and seafood, which are significant sources of nutrients for consumers, and many of the countries this food is imported from face their own climate-related challenges and sustainability risks, the report said.
All this comes as farmers claim the changes to inheritance tax, as announced in the Budget, will see farms produce less as land is sold off to pay for the levy.
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