Thousands of farmers protest in London against tax changes

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Thousands of farmers have taken to the streets of London in a bid to overturn the UK government’s recent changes to inheritance tax rules that they say will kill off the family farm and threaten food security.

Landowners from across the country joined a rally near Parliament Square on Tuesday, holding banners with slogans that read “We just want to feed you” and “Save family farms”, in a demonstration against what the sector has dubbed a “family farm tax”.

Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs addressed the crowd, denouncing the tax as unfair and an attack on rural communities. Celebrity farmer and former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson was also in the crowd.

The reforms to agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) announced in the Budget mean farmers and agricultural landowners previously exempt from paying inheritance tax will, from April 2026, be subject to a 20 per cent levy on assets above £1mn.

Downing Street said allowances could enable a married couple or those in a civil partnership to pass on a farm worth up to £3mn without paying inheritance tax.

That is because each partner would have a £1mn threshold before paying IHT on their land, on top of the existing £1mn tax-free allowance that married couples can pass on if they own a property.

David Corp, a dairy, beef and arable farmer from Somerset, said that like many farmers, he was in severe debt and that his family would not be able to afford the hit from death duties.

“I’m absolutely livid,” he said. “They say they’re going after landed industrialists who employ people like me to farm their land. But [the industrialists] have already sewn it all up in offshore funds and trusts.”

Farming was a “mug’s game”, he added, saying that he wished his son, who now also works on the farm, had chosen a different career path.

National Farmers’ Union president Tom Bradshaw called the policy “the straw that broke the camel’s back” for the sector.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen the industry this angry, this disillusioned and this upset,” he said.

“After years of changing policy and 18 months of some of the worst weather on record, the Budget has been a kick in the teeth,” he told the crowd of protesters.

Farmers are already facing a long list of worries including the accelerated phaseout of government subsidies, lower prices for produce, ever tighter margins and volatile weather.

The reforms were based on bad policy and launched with no consultation, Bradshaw said, claiming that the Treasury had also failed to inform the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which is responsible for farming, ahead of the decision.

The government has assured farmers that only 500 businesses will be affected by the changes, but the NFU has taken issue with the Treasury’s analysis, which is based on previous APR claims, arguing the £1mn threshold is too low.

The Country Land and Business Association, which represents landowners and rural businesses, had estimated that the changes could affect as many as 70,000 farms.

“If just 5 per cent of rural businesses fail, it could lead to tens of thousands of job losses in the rural economy,” said CLA president Victoria Vyvyan. “So much for a government that claims to have economic growth at its heart.”

Defra secretary Steve Reed said on Monday night that public services were crumbling and that to fill the £22bn fiscal hole the government had to take “difficult decisions”.

“The reforms to APR ensure that wealthier estates and the most valuable farms pay their fair share to invest in our schools and health services that farmers and families in rural communities rely on,” he added.

Additional reporting by Jim Pickard