Local farmers join national protest over farm tax

Protesters gathered in London as part of a lobby of parliament

A Lincolnshire farmer attending a protest march in London against the government's planned changes to inheritance tax said the proposal came as a "complete bombshell".

David Armstrong from Bardney grows 3,500 tonnes of potatoes a year for supermarkets and crisp makers.

He said he has sleepless nights as he faces a tax bill of up to £700,000 when his elderly parents pass away.

The government said they are investing heavily in farming but have had to make “difficult decisions”.

Mr Armstrong said: "It's not only me who's angry, we're all angry.

"When you get up in the morning the first thing you think about is what are we doing today? The second one is this at the moment."

He added: "There was a lot of announcements made in the budget that affected us, but this one, by far, overshadows the lot."

He acknowledged the government was probably right in trying to stop tax avoidance from outside of the farming industry "but there must be a better way".

David Armstrong said farmers were angry about the proposed changes

Fellow marcher Molly Saville, whose family farms near Driffield in East Yorkshire, described the tax introduction as "ridiculous".

"No one is listening," she said.

"We need our voices to be heard."

Under the government's proposals from April 2026 inheritance tax at 20%, half the usual rate of 40%, would apply on farm assets worth more than £1m.

The Treasury said it would apply to around 500 farms a year.

However, the National Farmers Union (NFU) has claimed up to 70,000 farms could be affected.

Molly Saville works on her family's farm near Driffield in East Yorkshire

The NFU organised today's lobby of parliament which more than 1,800 farmers attended.

NFU president Tom Bradshaw addressed the rally saying the changes were "kicking the legs out from under British food security".

"We know the horrendous pressure it is putting on the older generation of farmers who have given everything to providing food for this country," he said.

"We know that any tax revenue will be taken from our children and raised from those that die in tragic circumstances, all within the next seven years.

"The human impact of this policy is simply not acceptable, it's wrong."

A larger protest involving thousands of people also took place in Whitehall, which featured a speech by TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson.

Analysis by Linsey Smith - BBC Look North Rural Affairs Correspondent

From the countryside to the capital, they came in their thousands. Farmers, labourers, vets and drivers brought Whitehall to a standstill.

The government says they value farmers. They insist the change to inheritance tax will stop wealthy people buying land to avoid paying tax. Only a few family farms will be affected each year, they calculate.

But today’s marchers disagreed.

Some told us the tax bills will land them in debt for years. Others say they would need to sell swathes of their farm to fund it - leaving the remainder unprofitable, a shadow of the business their grandparents built.

Underneath the discontent about inheritance tax, there’s a simmering anger that the government don’t understand the countryside.

Today the simmering intensified. But many still ask: was anybody listening?

The National Farmers Union claim up to 70,000 farms could be affected by the tax

Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, told the BBC that Labour was "on the side of rural Britain" and "the vast majority" would still pay nothing under the new scheme.

He said the government would be investing £5bn into farming over the next two years.

“Farmers are the backbone of Britain, and we recognise the strength of feeling expressed by farming and rural communities in recent weeks," he said.

"We are steadfast in our commitment to Britain’s farming industry because food security is national security.

“But with public services crumbling and a £22bn fiscal hole that this government inherited, we have taken difficult decisions."

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