Adam Durbin
Live editor

More than 10,000 farmers gathered in protest in central London today, calling for the government to reverse course on its plans to bring in 20% inheritance tax on properties valued above £1m.

There is an ongoing debate over how many farms and farmers will be affected. Opposition parties and the farmers' union insist it's as many as 70,000, while the government say it's less than 500.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he understands the concerns of farmer's, but has held firm on the the plans.

Thanks for joining our live coverage, if you'd like to read more about the day's events our main story on the protest will be kept updated.

For a deeper dive into the policy, BBC Verify's analysis of how many farms the change will affect is also available.

To play us out, the BBC's business editor Simon Jack has prepared this video on the basics of the dispute, which you can watch below:

This page was edited by Adam Durbin and Emily Atkinson. It was written by Adam Goldsmith and Rachel Flynn.

Image source, Reuters

We'll be closing our live coverage of the farmers' protest in central London shortly, but before we do, let's get you up to speed.

What are the farmers protesting?

Tens of thousands of farmers travelled to Westminster to protest changes to inheritance tax (IHT) announced in the Budget.

Since 1984, agricultural property relief (APR) has allowed small family farms to be exempt from IHT. But from April 2026, those with agricultural assets worth more than £1m will be liable to the tax at 20% - half the usual rate.

How many farmers will this affect?

This is where the row begins. The Country Land and Business Association estimates the changes will harm 70,000 UK farms, while the Treasury says 500 estates will be affected per year. BBC Verify has broken down these figures.

What happened at the protest?

Among thousands of farmers and their children, opposition leaders Ed Davey, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage attended the protest. So did broadcaster and farmer Jeremy Clarkson. Farmers voiced their concerns, with some threatening to strike if the policy isn't reversed. Prime Minister Keir Starmer reiterated the "vast majority of farms would be unaffected".

Jennifer McKiernan
Political reporter

Image source, UK Parliament

The environment secretary Steve Reed has told MPs many of the farmers protesting inheritance tax changes are wrong to think they're at risk.

Reed was appearing in front of Westminster's rural affairs committee as an estimated 10,000 farmers protested outside. He was asked why so many seemed to think the changes would affect their farms.

Reed said the Treasury figures were backed by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and "they all say that less than 500 would be affected a year".

He replied: "Assuming these projections from HMRC, validated by the OBR and the IFS, are correct then many of them - probably happily - are wrong - because there are things that they can do to plan their tax affairs, as most businesses and asset owners would do, to limit their liability.

"The numbers I've heard bandied around are enormous and very, very frightening... People have drawn a straight line to inheritance tax liability but you can't do that."

Jenny Kumah
Rural Affairs correspondent, reporting from Westminster

Image source, PA Media

More than 10,000 farmers were out in protest on the streets of Westminster today, according to the Met Police.

When I spoke to them they expressed a mix of emotions, including anger, sadness, frustration and disappointment. They came together to show their opposition on the streets.

Earlier today, 1,800 National Farmers' Union (NFU) members met in a building near parliament as part of a mass lobby of MPs event.

The president of the NFU gave an impassioned speech. He described the tax changes as a stab in the back, a kick in the teeth, and wrong and unacceptable.

The question is what do farmers do next? They have met up with their MPs and they’ve protested on the streets. Meanwhile the government is showing no sign of backing down from this controversial decision.

The next generation of farmers has been a vocal group at today's protest.

Watch what what some of them have to say below:

Profitability is very low in farmingpublished at 15:50 Greenwich Mean Time 19 November

15:50 GMT 19 November

By Anthony Reuben

Environment Secretary Steve Reed has told a committee of MPs: “Profitability within the farming sector is very low at the moment”.

Farmers have also been saying this when arguing that they can’t afford to pay inheritance tax on farmland.

Government research suggests , externalthat 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.

Other government figures suggest , externalthat the average return on capital for farms (the amount of value farmers can extract from things like farmland and machinery by growing crops for example) is only about 0.5%, which is low compared with other businesses.

For more information, read our piece on how many farms will be affected by Budget tax rises.

Newsnight

Jeremy Clarkson joined the ranks of his farming colleagues today as they flocked to Westminster to protest the changes to inheritance tax (IHT).

Surrounded by a press scrum on Whitehall, he tells BBC Newsnight that he hopes the government will “back down” on the proposed plans to charge IHT on assets worth over £1m.

The TV personality and on-screen-farmer is also pressed by Victoria Derbyshire over whether he had bought a farm initially to avoid IHT, as per a claim he once made in the Sunday Times newspaper.

He denies the accusation, responding: “I wanted a shoot….which comes with the benefit of not having to pay inheritance tax. Now I do."

And while Clarkson tells the BBC that he could manage an increase by putting his money in a trust, he suggests that others might not be so fortunate.

"It's incredibly time consuming to have to do that," he says. "And why should all these people have to do that? Why should they?”

One of the sixty farmers who have travelled to the protest from Derbyshire, 18-year-old Henry Hickam, says farmers will be forced to increase their prices if the change to inheritance tax isn't reversed.

Speaking to the BBC in Westminster, he says: "If we have to pay this money for inheritance tax, we will not be able to put the money back into the farm to grow it bigger and grow better food for Britain."

The changes will cost his family's farm tens of thousands of pounds, he says, which will force farmers to increase their prices if no other form of subsidy is introduced.

Hickam adds that making farmers pay IHT will make more farmers sell their land, resulting in less food security for the UK and a higher reliance on importing food from abroad.

Malcolm Prior
Rural Affairs producer, reporting from Westminster

It was cold. It was wet. But nothing compared to the extreme weather conditions UK farmers have become used to in their daily work.

And the downpour could do little to dampen the anger and frustration felt by many towards the government’s proposed changes to the inheritance tax rules for farmers.

But nor too could it dampen the spirits of what was also a good-humoured rally - with calls for more extreme direct action ignored in favour of keeping the public onside.

The highlight? Forget the Clarksons and the Farages of this world - a rally of mini-tractors driven by farmers’ children was enough to warm the coldest of hearts.

Image source, PA Media

Will a typical farm get to pass on £3m tax free?published at 15:15 Greenwich Mean Time 19 November

15:15 GMT 19 November

By Anthony Reuben

Asked about the protests against changes to inheritance tax on agricultural land, Keir Starmer said that people need to “appreciate that in a typical case it’s a £3m threshold before inheritance tax is paid”.

Is that typical?

To be allowed to pass on £3m tax free, there would have to be a specific set of circumstances.

If the farm was owned by a couple who were married or in a civil partnership, they would get an allowance of £1m each for the agricultural land, making a total of £2m.

Then they would each have an allowance of £325,000 as their standard property allowance.

And there is a £175,000 tax-free allowance per person on a main residence but only if it’s passed to children or grandchildren.

That would raise the threshold to around £3m before inheritance tax on farmland would kick in.

• Read more about how many farms would be affected by Budget changes

Crowds are dispersing from Whitehall as farmers clamber into their tractors and head home.

The Met Police estimates that around 10,000 turned up to protest a change to inheritance tax, which would see people taxed at 20% on assets worth over £1m.

As celebrity figures including Jeremy Clarkson joined the ranks, here's how the day played out:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, PA Media

Jenny Kumah
Rural Affairs Correspondent, reporting from Westminster

Three generations of the Lathan family have come to Westminster today, 86-year-old Robin, his son Phil, and his 15-year-old grandson Sam, who live on a dairy farm in Cheshire.

Phil tells me: “Dad's 86 and there's no time for him to take advice. And as for the seven year gifting rule, it’s unlikely at his age that he will get to the other side of that.

"And so inheriting the farm is going to cost me a fortune which threatens the viability of the business. The remarks that we get that its £3m - well it is not.

"Dad’s single, Mum died when I was 13. Sam's 15. He's desperate to be a farmer. And that's why we've come down.”

Image source, Reuters

Leaders of opposition parties also joined farmers during their protest in Westminster.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey earlier told farmers "you deserve so much better", the PA news agency reports.

He said that farmers are "fed up with being let down and taken for granted", and called the inheritance tax change "stupid".

Speculating that it will cause farms to sell up, he asked: "Who else will put healthy, nutritious food on our tables... If we lose the families who have been doing it so passionately for generations?"

The government has dismissed suggestions that three quarters of farmers could be affected by the introduction of inheritance tax (IHT) for agricultural property.

With thousands of farmers at the gates of Downing Street, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's official spokesperson says it is not possible to calculate how much IHT might be payable on the basis of the value of land alone.

“We would urge caution,” she tells reporters in Westminster, adding that the PM values the work farmers do “day in and day out”.

“Farmers are the stewards of the countryside. We do not underestimate their important contribution to the economy and our rural economy.”

The Country Land and Business Association says that capping agricultural property relief at £1m could harm 70,000 UK farms.

However, the government says Agricultural Property Relief is only claimed by 500 farms a year.

Downing Street says its calculations are based on actual claims and reiterates that a couple passing on a farm could claim £3m of inheritance tax relief.

“On that basis we believe the vast majority of claims will not be affected,” the spokesperson says, stressing the government’s approach would support the smallest farms.

The Metropolitan Police says tractor drivers who ploughed through barriers at the demonstration in London today will be reported.

A video on X shows a red tractor driving over a traffic cone and through a no entry sign.

In response, Scotland Yard says: "We've been engaging with those who brought tractors today and had no concerns with them driving around.

"However, driving over a police barrier line is not acceptable and the drivers will be reported for the offence."

Farmer Emma Robinson, 44, from north-west England, says she's "absolutely livid" and willing to take part in measures to disrupt food supplies if needed.

Her farm has been in her family for 500 years, she tells Reuters news agency. "It was my baton and I was going to pass it on to my kids," she says.

"It's been taken out of my hands by someone that's been in parliament for literally days," she adds, referring to Rachel Reeves' first Budget as chancellor in October.

Willingness to strike has been a sentiment echoed by other farmers at the protest today.

Justin Trott, a farmer from Somerset, tells Reuters the change to inheritance tax is "a complete attack on the rural culture of life".

Image source, EPA

The Metropolitan Police says the official farmers' protest has come to an end and crowds are beginning to disperse from Whitehall and the surrounding area in Westminster.

In a post on X, the force says: "We’re asking those who wish to stay in the area to move onto pavements so we can get the roads reopened and minimise further disruption."

Presenter-turned-TV farmer Jeremy Clarkson has been at the protest today, speaking to the media about his objections to the government's plans.

Watch below:

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Just now, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has taken to the stage at the rally.

There are loud cheers when she pledges to reverse what she calls “the family farms tax”, which she says is “going to destroy farming as we know it”.

“We know the burden that farmers are carrying” - “want you to know that we have your backs,” she continues.

Badenoch goes on to list some difficulties farmers face, including climate change, before suggesting that farming is “critical to growth” and warning that young farmers will leave if the tax change goes ahead.

“Farming is the backbone of this country,” she says.

Away from the political speeches, the next generation of farmers are staging their own protest.

Perched on tractors by London's Parliament Square, the childrens' signs say: "When I grow up I wanted to be a farmer" and "peddling for our future".

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media