Hundreds of tractors descended upon central London as British farmers continue their protests against the leftist government’s inheritance tax raid on farms.
Up to 500 tractors are estimated to have made their way to London on Wednesday morning, blocking off multiple lanes of traffic around Whitehall as organizers vow to step up actions against Prime Minster Sir Keir Starmer’s government if it refuses to back down.
Dairy farmer and member of the steering group of the No Farmers, No Food campaign group Charles Goadby told GB News that “this is only the beginning”.
“Everyone is pointing out that the government have got it wrong and they are refusing to admit it. The government is behaving like a petulant toddler.”
In addition to protests, the founder of Save British Farming, Liz Webster warned that farmers may start holding back food supplies next year if the government does not reverse course on its inheritance tax raid on farms.
Since coming into office in July, the leftist Labour government has argued that despite taxes already being at decades-high levels, billions more are required to fund public services and fill a supposed £22 billion “black hole” in the nation’s finances left by the previous Tory government.
As a part of its high-tax agenda, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has pushed forward a plan to strip family farms of their inheritance tax exemption, which has been in place since 1984. Under the plans, by 2026, farms valued at least £1 million (£2m for married couples) will now face an inheritance tax of 20 per cent.
While the government has claimed the measure is intended to target wealthy people using farms as a means of avoiding inheritance tax and that three quarters of farms would not be impacted, the National Farmers’ Union have estimated that 60 per cent of farms could be impacted and that families will likely be forced to sell land in order to merely pay the tax. This is a major concern as with modern farming practices smaller farms struggle to remain financially viable.
Speaking to The Times of London, protesting farmer Phil Cookes, 38, lamented “my dad can’t afford to die while Labour are in power.
Cookes, who attended the protest with his wife and five-month-old daughter, explained that his mother died earlier this year and had left their family farm in his father’s name. The 200-acre third-generation farm is valued at up to £3 million and would therefore fall under the tax grab should his father die and the family would have no recourse other than selling off land.
They were also supported by former Home Secretary James Cleverly, who remarked: “I stand with family farms. Labour’s tax grab will hurt UK farming and farming families. Ahead of the election Labour promised the Nation Farmers Union that they wouldn’t chance the farming tax framework. Then they did.”