19 November 2024 , 19:27
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Thousands of people have protested in London over changes to inheritance tax for farmers announced in the Budget.
Among those marching in Whitehall was TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson, who said "it’s the end" for farmers, as he called for the government to change its mind.
The prime minister said he understood farmers’ concerns and "wants to support" them but added "the vast majority" would be unaffected.
From April 2026, inherited agricultural assets worth more than £1m, which were previously exempt, will be liable to the tax at 20% - half the usual inheritance tax rate.
Other allowances could mean a couple who are married or in a civil partnership could pass on a farm worth as much as £3m.
However, many farmers argue that while they are asset rich - for example in terms of their land and livestock - they are cash poor and the changes would mean they would have to sell up to be able to pay the tax.
Ahead of the protest, around 1,800 National Farmers’ Union (NFU) members met near Parliament as part of a mass lobby of MPs.
The group’s president, Tom Bradshaw, gave an impassioned speech describing the tax changes as destructive, a "stab in the back" for farmers, wrong and unacceptable.
He told protesters the changes were the "straw that broke the camel’s back".
Later, speaking to Sky News, he said Labour had "destroyed" a "contract" between farming and the government dating back to World War Two.
"We’d love to pay more tax," Mr Bradshaw added.
"If we get proper margins from food production, and we end up swelling the Treasury coffers, bring it on.
"But at the moment the supply chain doesn’t give us those returns that enables us to save the money to pay the inheritance tax that this government now wants to take."
He added that Environment Secretary Steve Reed said when he was in opposition that Labour would not change agricultural property relief.
Since 2019, pig farming costs have risen by 54%, cattle by 44% and cereal by 43%, as food, fuel and fertiliser prices increase at a rate far outstripping the increases farmers can charge on what they produce. Subsidies that farmers get have also been declining since Brexit.
Government research suggests that an average farm last year made a profit of about £45,300 - although that figure may be overstated as it is based on a survey that excluded farms that bring in the least money.
The number of the UK’s 210,000 farms that could be affected by the inheritance tax change is also disputed.
The government says it will affect the wealthiest 500 estates each year, but the NFU and the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) have estimated up to 70,000 farms worth more than £1m could be affected.
According to BBC Verify, the largest estimate relates to the total number that could ever be affected. But the number of farms likely to be impacted each year is set to be around 500.
Between 2021 and 2022, 117 farms with a value of more than £2.5m were inherited.
Reed told the Commons Rural Affairs Committee on Tuesday that many farmers protesting over the tax changes were "wrong" about the policy - and he rejected claims the government had underestimated how many people would be affected.
"Many of them, probably happily, are wrong because there are things that they can do to plan their tax affairs as most businesses or asset owners would do to limit their liability," he said.
He said: "The numbers I’ve heard bandied around are enormous and very, very frightening if people were to believe them."
He acknowledged the changes would be "unsettling" and said he was "listening" to concerns, but insisted that most farmers would not face a hike.
Among those attending Tuesday’s events was Gloucestershire livestock farmer David Barton, who estimates his 400-cattle business - which has been in the family since 1913 - is worth around £5m.
Mr Barton is worried the proposed changes to inheritance tax could see his son facing a £800,000 bill and said the Budget "has just ripped the heart out of us".
He is now considering gifting his estate, which he believes would fall outside of inheritance tax if he does not die within seven years, but feared he was not in a financial position to stop working.
Others at the protest said they would have to sell their farms to pay the tax bills.
Jen, a seventh-generation farmer from Yorkshire, who did not give her surname, told the PA news agency: "If the Budget goes through, then that means I won’t be able to take her over my family farm because between me and my brother, we would have to sell up to be able to pay the tax.
"It’s something we’ve both been passionate about from when we were little kids, ever since we could walk, always been involved - it’s a lifestyle."
The 24-year-old said they would have to pay approximately £1.2m.
"We have spoken to our accountant, solicitors, and once something happens to our parents - unless there is some change, unless there’s something we can do - then it’s not possible for us," she said.
Jeremy Clarkson, who owns Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire - which features in the Amazon series Clarkson’s Farm - said he thought the change to inheritance tax was "a very rushed last-minute decision".
"I think we all make mistakes in life, and I think it’s time for them to say ’you know what, we’ve cocked this one up a bit’ and back down."
BBC Newsnight’s Victoria Derbyshire asked Mr Clarkson at the protest about his motivation for attending the rally: “So, it’s not about you, it’s not about your farm and the fact you bought a farm to avoid inheritance tax?”
Criticising the question as “Classic BBC", Mr Clarkson said: "I wanted to shoot... which comes with the benefit of not having to pay inheritance tax. Now I do. But people like me will simply put it [money] in a trust.
"And so long as I live for seven years, that’s fine... But it’s incredibly time consuming to have to do that. And why should all these people have to do that? Why should they?”
Inheritance tax rules mean the amount people are liable to pay may vary.
- Under the new rules farms would be affected by the 20% inheritance tax on any value above £1m (not on the whole value)
- There is no inheritance tax to be paid on the value of property up to £325,000, bringing the untaxed total to £1.325m
- If a farmer is married, their spouse would be able to pass on another £1.325m tax free, taking the total untaxed amount to £2.65m
- In addition, there is an £175,000 tax-free allowance on a main residence when it’s being passed on to children or grandchildren. This brings the total untaxed amount for a farming couple to up to £3m
Speaking to broadcasters from the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, the prime minister insisted the "vast majority" of farms would be "unaffected" by the Budget changes.
Sir Keir - who highlighted his childhood growing up in the countryside - said he "gets" farmers’ concerns and said the government was using the Budget to invest in other areas which affect rural communities, such as hospitals, schools and housing.
He said: "I think it’s very important for me to keep making the case that it’s only farms and assets over £3m in a typical case of parents wanting to pass on to their children, and therefore, for that reason, I’m confident that the vast majority of farms will not be affected."
He said £5bn had been pledged over two years "in farming and food sustainability. That’s hugely important for farmers, an additional amount for flooding that impacts them and on disease outbreak".
When asked if the government would reconsider the policy, the prime minister’s official spokesperson replied: "No - we have set out the reasons we have taken this difficult decision and why we believe it’s a fair and proportional approach."
Shortly before the rally ended, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch took to the stage to loud cheers as she pledged to reverse what she called “the family farms tax”, which she said would "destroy farming as we know it”.
The Liberal Democrats said it was "utter rubbish" to say only 500 of the UK’s wealthiest farmers’ estates would be affected each year.
The party’s environment spokesman, Tim Farron, told the BBC: "The only way that people can pay the inheritance is get rid of the farm - so corporates buy it.
"It’s cruel, it’s unfair, it’s also incredibly stupid".