Farmers’ protest live: Police probe tractors breaking barrier as Clarkson says inheritance tax a ‘hammer blow’
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.The Metropolitan Police have said tractor drivers who ploughed through barriers at the farmers’ protest in Westminster will be reported.
Scotland Yard said that they had been engaging with those driving the vehicles but said that driving through a no entry sign was “not acceptable”.
Taking to the stage, Jeremy Clarkson urged Rachel Reeves to admit her proposed inheritance tax hikes for farmers was a “mistake”, as he described it as a “hammer blow” to the agricultural community.
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.”
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.
National Farmers’ Union 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”.
Pictures from today’s protest
Farmers head to the pub after protest
My colleague Barney Davis reports from Whitehall:
There was lots of chatter amid the herds of dissipating farmers about which pub to visit now the speeches have ended.
Jack Greenaway from Devon said the protest was a tremendous success as he heads off to the pub with friends.
He was audibly shocked when I tell him that it is around £7 for a Guinness in the capital. “How much? Bloody hell. It’s £4 where I’m from you will have to come down my way.”
Farmers who ploughed through barriers in tractors to be reported
The Metropolitan Police said tractor drivers who ploughed through barriers at the farmers’ protests in central London will be reported.
A red tractor drove over a traffic cone and through a no entry sign on Whitehall at about midday on Tuesday. Another blue tractor entered the protest area behind it.
In a post on X, Scotland Yard said: “We’ve been engaging with those who brought tractors today and had no concerns with them driving around.
“However, driving over a police barrier line is not acceptable and the drivers will be reported for the offence.”
Huge crowd told to split as farmers praise police
The Independent’s Barney Davis reports from Whitehall:
Crowds have been told to split and leave Whitehall in two different directions due to the sheer size of the protest.
Huge cheers have been heard for the Metropolitan Police for making the event safe.
Starmer responds to farmer protests from G20 summit
The prime minister has responded to claims that the new Labour budget is waging a “class war” as thousands of farmers descend on Whitehall to protest changes to inheritance tax.
Speaking to Sky News from the G20 summit in Rio, Brazil, he insisted that the “vast majority will be unaffected” by the policy and added that he “wants to support farming”.
He said: “Where people are over that threshold, the tax is 20% - so half of what everybody else pays.”
When asked if the tax policies around farming and private schools is encouraging a class war, he said: “No, absolutely not. It isn’t at all what we’re doing.”
Family farm is facing a ‘lottery on death’
A young farmer said his family are facing a “lottery on death” because of changes in the Budget.
Oliver Atkinson, a mixed farmer who grows crops and keeps livestock in East Hampshire, said changes to inheritance tax on farms will be “a huge burden”.
The 28-year-old said: “We are here not just for the inheritance act, but there’s a lot of other things that the public don’t know about that the Government has brought in like a carbon tax on fertiliser, which grows 40 per cent of the world’s food. We can’t do without it.
“There are TB issues, there’s the inheritance tax which will be a huge burden.”
Mr Atkinson, who is a fifth-generation family farmer, said: “There is a lottery on death. I farm with my brother – if one of us dies early, then half the farm technically would then get a 20 per cent tax.”
David Cameron voices support for farmers
David Cameron has joined former prime ministers in voicing his support for the agricultural community, sharing a picture of himself engaging in discussions with farmers.
In a tweet, he wrote: “I’m proud to back our British farmers today.
Living in - and having represented - a rural constituency, I know full well that family farmers are the lifeblood of our rural economy, working night and day and through generations to provide the country with food.
“Labour’s ill-thought-through tax changes will destroy their livelihoods and put British farming at risk. Let’s all show our support for British farmers today.”
Jeremy Clarkson urges government to admit ‘mistake’ and back down
Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has taken to the stage in Westminster, urging the Labour government to admit that their policy change “was a mistake”.
He 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.
“That’s the big thing to do - admit it, and back down.”
The TV star bought a farm as part of his Amazon TV show Clarkson’s Farm, and told the crowd that running a farm “costs a fortune” due to the price of equipment and upkeep.
He stressed there’s “very little money” in farming and was met with boos from the crowd when he referenced the budget.
Downing Street says Treasury has had engagement with the NFU
In response to calls for Rachel Reeves to meet farmers, Downing Street insisted the Treasury had been in contact with them about the inheritance tax changes.
A No 10 spokeswoman said: “As I understand, the Treasury has had engagement with the NFU. Meetings are otherwise for the Chancellor and her team to set out.
“For the PM’s part, he met with the NFU, I think, in Downing Street in his early weeks in office and regularly engages with all sectors.”
Environment Secretary Steve Reed met the NFU’s president on Monday night and will address the Country Land and Business Association on Thursday, the spokeswoman added.
Kemi Badenoch says she will reverse ‘obviously cruel’ tax
Kemi Badenoch has taken to the stage at the farmer tax protest in Westminster, saying that they are “carrying the burden for the whole country”.
“We know how this tax will destroy your way of life,” says the Tory leader, as she pledged to reverse it if her party get back into power.
“This policy is so obviously unfair, so obviously cruel, and we will do everything we can - if they do not U-turn now - to reverse this tax.”
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