'Betrayed' farmers take inheritance tax protest to London

The National Farmers' Union (NFU) have accused the government of "betrayal" as thousands of protestors gather in London for a rally against the planned changes to inheritance tax rules for farms.

"To launch a policy this destructive without speaking to anyone involved in farming beggars belief," NFU President Tom Bradshaw will say in a speech on Tuesday.

The recent Budget announcement means that previously-exempt farms worth more than £1m would have to pay an inheritance tax of 20% - half the usual rate of 40% - from April 2026.

"This budget has just ripped the heart out of us because I know my son will not be able to pay the inheritance tax," Gloucestershire livestock farmer David Barton told the BBC.

He estimates his 400-cattle business is worth around £5m and the proposed changes to inheritance tax could see his son facing a £800,000 bill.

He is now considering gifting his estate, which means it 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.

"The people they probably want to target will end up with my farm. That's the reality - someone with a lot of money will buy this farm," he said.

"For ministers to stand up and say this is good for farmers like me, for agriculture, they are chucking petrol onto a rather hot fire at the moment."

The NFU has gathered 1,800 of its members in London for a mass lobby of MPs -three times as many as originally planned - to urge backbenchers to block the government's plans.

A larger event, which organisers say more than 10,000 people have registered for, is being held at Richmond Terrace and is expected to be addressed by speakers including the farmer and broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson.

The co-organiser of that rally, Staffordshire farmer Clive Bailye, told the BBC that it was set up to be a peaceful demonstration and had the public's support.

But he warned, in the future, there could be more direct action-style protests by some farmers.

"They are at a point now where they have nothing to lose and they have got the infrastructure behind them to be able to cause a lot of problems," he explained.

Victoria Atkins, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said Labour had delivered a "budget of broken promises" that was "killing British farming".

"Farmers can be asset rich, but cash poor," she told the BBC's Today Programme.

"They are not in it for the money - it's a 365-day responsibility."

The government has previously estimated just 500 of the UK's wealthiest landowners would be affected by the change - a figure the Liberal Democrats called "utter rubbish".

"The only way that people can pay the inheritance is get rid of the farm - so corporates buy it," the party's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesperson Tim Farron told BBC Breakfast.

"It's cruel, it's unfair, it's also incredibly stupid".

The NFU has said figures from the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) show 49% of farms in England had a net value of more than £1.5m, estimating that up to 70,000 farms could be affected in total.

A government spokesperson said it understood the concerns about the tax changes but insisted that "the majority of those claiming relief will not be affected by these changes".

“This is a fair and balanced approach that protects the family farm while also fixing the public services that we all rely on," she added.

The government has also said that combining tax reliefs and exemptions, depending on individual circumstances, could actually allow up to £3m to be passed on free of inheritance tax.

It added that any inheritance tax bill could be paid in instalments over a 10-year period.