“No farmers, no food”: agricultural workers protest inheritance tax changes

The government has come under fire following changes to Inheritance tax law for farms, with 10,000 taking to Westminster to demonstrate in the last month - Jeremy Clarkson and Reform UK MPs among them. The protests come following warnings from the National Farmers Union (NFU) that around 75% of family farms will be hit by Labour’s most recent budget.

Although previously exempt, farms worth over £1m will now be subject to 20% inheritance tax – half of the usual rate. Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Steve Reed has argued the changes will only impact the 500 wealthiest farms, while the Prime Minister stated the “vast majority” of farms would remain unaffected.

Farmers across the UK dispute this, however, with National Farmers Union vice-president Rachel Hallos telling LBC that “with a stroke of a pen, my children will be in debt for the rest of their lives. The union claims that, contrary to Kier Starmer’s statement, around ¾ of farms are worth over the £1m mark, and calls the fiscal reforms a “family farm tax”. They stress that while they may hold valuable land, most farmers do not have the income to pay the “unmanageably large” fees.

Protests have erupted across the UK, with tractor convoys taking to the streets in Truro and London. Among those at the London protest was former presenter Jeremy Clarkson, who claimed the tax will “end” British farming. Clarkson engaged in a widely-shared clash with the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire, who questioned whether the Top Gear star, having bought a farm to avoid paying inheritance tax himself, had ulterior motives.

Political backlash against Labour has also been severe, and has coincided with a steep decline in Labour’s popularity. One poll by JL Partners saw Labour ratings only 1% higher than the Conservatives, the party they won a landslide victory over in July.

Also present at the London protest were Reform UK MP’s Richard Tice and Lee Anderson. The party have seen recent polling success, and call themselves the “fastest growing political movement in Britain”. Anderson, a former Conservative Party Deputy Chairman, was expelled from the Tories following his claim that “Islamists” controlled London and its mayor, Sadiq Khan. The Ashfield MP was broadly condemned for his comments, but retained his Ashfield seat in 2024 following his defection to Reform.

Farmers have similarly been at the heart of discontent against the Labour government in Wales. Controversial plans by the devolved body to deny funding to farms that had not used 10% of their land to plant trees were repealed on the 25^th of November following demonstrations in Cardiff and beyond.