ANGRY farmers laid siege to Westminster today as they protested against the Budget’s introduction of inheritance tax on farms.
Shouts of “kick Starmer out” resonated across Parliament Square and outside Downing Street as more than 10,000 farmers rallied to hear speeches demanding a Labour U-turn on the tax.
Celebrity farmer and right-wing TV personality Jeremy Clarkson, unabashed by an admission earlier in his rustic career that he had bought a farm to avoid inheritance tax, said: “I beg the government to accept that this was rushed through.
“It wasn’t thought out, and it’s a mistake. That’s the big thing to do — admit it and back down.”
There was little sign of that happening, although some Labour MPs from rural seats are becoming anxious at what looks like another political blunder by a government all too prone to them.
Andy MacNae, MP for Rossendale and Darwen, told lobbying farmers that he would take their concerns back to the Treasury and hoped that the policy could be tweaked to protect family farms.
Montgomery MP Steve Witherden said the Treasury needed to reveal its modelling on the impact on family farms.
The protest, organised by the National Farmers Union (NFU), was backed by a range of other groups.
Greenpeace UK head of politics Ami McCarthy said: “Whilst it is right that the richest landowners pay their fair share of tax, the government must look again at their wider offer to support UK farmers.
“Supermarkets and industrial farming corporations have been making huge profits, while driving down standards.”
The Greens’ agricultural spokesperson Emily O’Brien said that while “it is right to clamp down on those who buy farmland to avoid tax ... we also need the government to take action to ensure that hard working farmers can earn a decent income.”
Speaking from Rio PM Sir Keir Starmer pledged that he was not waging a “class war” on landowners and added that only farmers with assets over £3 million would pay the new tax, leaving most unaffected.
One of the farmers at the rally, Philip Greenhill from North Wiltshire, pointed out that “you could have £5 million of assets, but make £50,000 a year profit. You are looking at maybe £600,000 inheritance tax off a £50,000 income.”
