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”.
Toy tractors pictured in Westminster
Toy tractors have been seen ready to lead the protest through Westminster, a scaled down version after organisers deterred farmers from bringing their own to London.
“Their not as big as the French tractors but hopefully they get the message”, one farmer says. “That’s the idea anyway”.
Traffic holds up farmers
We left Cirencester at 5.30am, and just passing Buckingham Palace now, around 10 minutes from our destination of Tothill Street, which is a five minute walk from Church House; the meeting point for the mass lobby.
“Almost there,” says Chris Farr, NFU Gloucestershire county adviser, who tells farmers on board to stick together when getting off to avoid anyone getting lost.
Members have been individually briefed ahead of meeting MPs at the mass lobby shortly.
What’s happening in London today?
Thousands of farmers are heading to London on November 19 to demonstrate against Labour’s upcoming changes to how agricultural property is taxed.
Two separate events are due to take place in central London on what promises to be a lively day.
The largest is an independent rally organised by several high-profile farmers. The group has not revealed how many have registered their interest, but it is estimated that between 10,000 and 40,000 people will attend.
The organisers include farmers Clive Bailye, Olly Harrison, Martin Williams, Andrew Ward and James Mills, several of whom have been sharing details their social media channels.
Mr Harrison told his 120,000 followers that the rally is “all about landing the message that farmers produce the nation’s food and we cannot afford this ludicrous inheritance tax change.”
Those who are interested in attending are being asked to gather at Richmond Terrace in Whitehall from 11am. There will then be a short procession to Parliament Square which will return to the start location.
Organisers say that a “number of children on toy tractors” will lead the procession, desinged to highlight “the impact of the devastating budget on the future of farming and the countryside.”
The rally will end with addresses from several speakers including National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president, Tom Bradshaw. TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson – an outspoken farm owner himself – is also expected to make an appearance.
The event complements a ‘mass lobby,’ which was arranged first, organised by the NFU. This is not a protest or march, but will bring together thousands of farmers with MPs at Church House in Westminster, just a 10 minute walk from the rally.
What NFU members will tell MPs at mass lobby
Coach-loads of farmers are arriving in London this morning to speak to MPs on Labour’s Budget as part of a mass lobby.
I’ve seen the briefing to members which lays out the “key messages”.
They are:
- HM Treasury is working from the wrong figures - this is based on calculations by The Treasury that less than 500 farms will be impacted by the change inheritance tax for farmers each year.
- Food security is national security - NFU says the change will mean farmers will need to sell off land which they say will reduce food production across the UK.
- APR (agricultural property relief) is not a loophole - the NFU says it protects family farms from being sold and broken up.
NFU statement on wider protest
As pictures emerge of tractors arriving in Westminster ahead of a wider protest by farmers, the NFU, which is holding its own mass lobby of MPs, has issued a statement.
It read: “We are aware of the rally being planned. It’s not surprising with so many farmers up and down the country keen to ensure their voices heard and we wish them well in that.
“While some NFU members are likely to attend, there will also be non-NFU members there, and the NFU is not organising it.”
Possibility farmers will strike over inheritance tax changes
A fourth-generation family farmer said there is a possibility he and other farmers will strike if changes to agricultural property relief are not reversed.
Richard Wainwright, 58, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, was at Church House Conference Centre in central London on Tuesday morning ahead of a meeting with the National Farmers’ Union (NFU).
Mr Wainwright, whose grandfather began farming with a few cows and delivered milk to the surrounding area, said: “We are talking about possibly striking. I hope it doesn’t come to that because that’s seriously going to impact the food chain.”
On the impact on his farm, he said: “We’ve got to possibly sell a 20% share of the farmland to be able to cover the tax bill. For us it’s around £600,000 we are going to have to pay.
“It’s like I’m going to have to buy my own farm back.”
Reeves says farmers must help fund NHS as she refuses to back down ahead of mass protest
Rachel Reeves has refused to back down over the planned extension of inheritance tax to agricultural properties, telling farmers they must pay their share to fund public services including the NHS.
Her remarks come despite thousands of farmers descend on London for a major protest on Tuesday, held alongside a mass lobby of MPs in Westminster where National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president Tom Bradshaw is expected to say that the betrayal on the tax changes is extraordinary.
The union chief will warn that farms producing the country’s food will need to be broken up and sold as a result of the policy, “because farmers simply won’t have the money to pay this tax any other way”.
Read the full article here:
Reeves says farmers must help fund NHS ahead of mass protest
Chancellor says farmers must pay ‘fair share’ as thousands descend on London for a major demonstration
Met police issue statement ahead of wider protes
A Met Police spokesperson said: “We have had positive discussions with the protest organisers who have confirmed their event will begin at Richmond Terrace, off Whitehall, at 11am on Tuesday.
“There will be speeches, before a procession to nearby Parliament Square.
“We will have officers deployed in the vicinity to ensure the event takes place safely, lawfully and in a way that prevents serious disruption.”
'Farmers already lumbered with debts'
At the back of the NFU coach is Karen Cox, who runs a 580-acre arable farm with her husband James near Tetbury.
She makes the point that many farmers are already dealing with the cost of succession without inheritance tax.
She has had to remortgage most of their land to pay her sister £3m after their father died in 2019.
The loan from the bank means they are repaying £125k to the bank each year.
“The farm is already lumbered with debts, changing this to inheritance tax will only make it even hard for the next generation,” she says. She’s calculated the impact of the Budget on her farm, and has a handwritten letter to show to her MP at the mass lobby.
'It feels like a betrayal'
Helping run today’s events for the NFU is Chris Farr, the union’s Gloucestershire county advisor.
He says the announced change to inheritance tax came as “complete shock”.
“Having had assurances from Steve Reed [farming minister] and Keir Starmer that APR [agricultural property relief] wasn’t going to be changed, we were all taken back.
“It has led to a massive level of concern, anger and disappointment - it feels like a betrayal.”
He said the NFU’s aim of the mass lobby was to get MPs “to understand the reality of what they have planned will mean for the countryside”.
“This is not about haranguing the MPs, it is about helping them understand what this means for the family farm.”
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