Long-threatened farmer protests have kicked off in Westminster this morning.
Hundreds of NFU members have already given NFU president Tom Bradshaw a rousing reception at a meeting in Church House, next to Westminster Abbey.
Some 1,800 farmers will then attend sessions with MPs throughout the day as part of a ’mass lobby’ organised by the farming union to “Stop the Family Farm Tax”, where they will attempt to persuade MPs to pile pressure on chancellor Rachel Reeves to u-turn on her controversial inheritance tax policy.
Some estimates have suggested as many as 12,000 farmers will also be present on the street in Whitehall today to protest against Reeves’ policy changes, announced in the budget on 30 October, with others predicting actual numbers could be far higher.
Farmers, MPs including Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, plus Jeremy Clarkson are due to speak to the crowds around lunchtime. By 11.30am streets surrounding parliament had been closed by police as numbers grew.
An emotional NFU president Tom Bradshaw addressed union members at the initial meeting and thanked them for “making the effort to be here and join the fight”.
Industry has never been so ‘angry, disillusioned and upset’
In his speech, Bradshaw said he didn’t think he had “ever seen the industry this angry, this disillusioned and this upset”.
“And given what we’ve had to be angry about in recent years that’s saying something.”
The meeting kicked off with one member of the audience calling for “three cheers for Tom” which was met by applause and cheers from members.
The focus of farmers’ ire is the chancellor’s change to amendments to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR), which will see the existing relief rate of 100% reduced to 50% from April 2026 for farm businesses valued above £1m.
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The move means businesses will pay an effective IHT rate of 20% on assets above the £1m mark, having previously paid zero, though the government stresses only a small amount of farms will be impacted, while a series of other reliefs are also available – with the potential to give farmers as much as £3m-worth of tax relief, dependent on their circumstances.
Bradshaw warned the changes would “affect farmers from every corner of Britain, many of whom are here today or joining us for later sessions”.
Many farmers are warning the changes could force businesses to fold – leading to food shortages and inflation. It is “kicking the legs out from underneath food security”, Bradshaw said this morning.
“To launch a policy this destructive without speaking to anyone involved in farming beggars’ belief,” he added, while described the policy as a “stab in the back” and “the straw which broke the camel’s back”.
Bradshaw choked back tears as he said “it’s wrong on every level” and like nothing he had seen in his lifetime.
The NFU has predicted 75% of working farms will be within scope of the policy, despite the Treasury suggestimng only a quarter will be affected.
He called on members to look their MPs in the eye and “make them understand that there is a political price to be paid” by telling them “your stories, from the heart”.
Defra and the Treasury have so far refused to budge on the policy – despite the anger from the sector. In a joint statement issues yesterday, chancellor Reeves and Defra secretary Steve Reed maintained their line that reforms to APR would “ensure that wealthier estates and the most valuable farms pay their fair share to invest in our schools and health services that farmers and families in rural communities rely on”.
Farmer reaction
Dan Spurs, a mixed farmer from Northumberland who was camped out outside parliament, said his anger went way beyond the inheritance tax issue.
Instead he was also worrying about wider agriculture policies, including a carbon tax on products such as fertiliser, which is a “big thing that’s going to hit absolutely everything”.
He said farmers were trying to keep the public on side but, “I suspect it probably will go terribly and then we’ll copy the French”.
Next time he warned he would bring his tractor “all 450 miles” to Westminster.
The NFU has called on farmers to keep the public on side. Bradshaw said it was “the opportunity for the industry to stand on a united front” and to show the government this issue is not going away.
Andrew Shaw, a cereals farmer from Cheshire, told The Grocer that farmers wanted to keep the public on side but other core workers like nurses, doctors and railway drivers had gone on strike and “got what they wanted”.
“We don’t want upset general public, because there are, you know, they’re who we want to look after,” said Angela Shaw, cereals farmer and wife of Andrew. “We know we’re never do anything stupid. We just want to make everyone aware.”
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