‘Betrayed’ farmers take Budget protest to London | EUROtoday

The National Farmers Union has accused the federal government of “betrayal” over adjustments to inheritance tax as hundreds of farmers put together to assemble in London for a rally.

Its president Tom Bradshaw instructed the BBC the measures introduced in final month’s Budget have been “completely unjust”.

From April 2026, inherited agricultural belongings value greater than £1m, which have been beforehand exempt, will likely be liable to the tax at 20%, half the standard charge.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed mentioned: “We’ve had to ask those with the broadest shoulders to pay a little bit more”. He mentioned that the overwhelming majority of farmers would “pay nothing” even after the adjustments.

The NFU has gathered 1,800 of its members in London for a foyer of MPs on Tuesday.

A bigger occasion, which organisers say greater than 10,000 folks have registered for, is being held in Whitehall.

The variety of farms that could possibly be affected by the inheritance tax change is disputed.

The authorities says it’s going to solely have an effect on the wealthiest 500 estates annually however the NFU and the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) have estimated as much as 70,000 farms could possibly be affected.

Mr Bradshaw instructed BBC Newsnight: “These are people’s lives, these are people’s livelihoods we are talking about. They have no ability to plan.”

Richard Jowett, who runs a 300-acre farm simply exterior Salisbury, instructed Today that in accordance with the Budget announcement his farm wouldn’t be affected, however he believed it could.

He mentioned he must pay half one million kilos in tax if he one in every of his kids needed to take it over after he died.

“You feel totally let down,” he mentioned.

Among these attending Tuesday’s occasions is Gloucestershire livestock farmer David Barton, who has a 265-acre farm close to Cirencester that has been in his household since 1913.

He estimates his 400-cattle enterprise is value round £5m and the proposed adjustments to inheritance tax may see his son dealing with a £800,000 invoice.

“This budget has just ripped the heart out of us because I know my son will not be able to pay the inheritance tax,” he mentioned.

He is now contemplating gifting his property, which suggests it could fall exterior of inheritance tax if he doesn’t die inside seven years, however feared he was not in a monetary place to cease working.

Baroness Minette Bridget Batters, a farmer and ex-NFU president, has known as measures to guard farmers from further prices.

She instructed Today it felt like “the penalties just continue to grow” for farmers, with the rise within the National Living Wage, National Insurance hikes and now the inheritance tax.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed mentioned “It’s only right to ask the very wealthiest farmers and those wealthy individuals who have been buying up agricultural land to avoid their own inheritance tax liability, to pay their fair share”.

He added that the federal government was dedicated to investing £5bn in sustainable farming over the subsequent two years and mentioned farms will likely be handed on from technology to technology.

Student Alaw Jones, who’s planning to affix the rally in London later, is the ninth technology of her household to farm livestock in west Wales. She mentioned her dad and mom had all the time deliberate handy down the enterprise to her and her sister however now “all the work they have done to build the business and get this farm to stand on its own just feels like it’s for nothing.”

She added: “Mental health is a massive issue in the agricultural industry and this feels like the final nail in the coffin for those farmers who are already struggling.”

Rupert Dale’s household run a hay farm on the Worcestershire/Shropshire border supplying livestock farmers throughout the nation.

He mentioned the household now worry they must promote up, explaining: “Me and my brother would have to pay an immense sum for our farm to carry on and that’s a sum that we spoke about together as a family that we would not be able to finance and afford.”

Students’ Union president Alexandra Godfrey mentioned: “I think this is one of the most pressing challenges in the farming sector and we all need to rally together to tell the government how we feel. If not now, when?”

Shadow atmosphere secretary Victoria Atkins mentioned Labour had delivered a “budget of broken promises” that was “killing British farming”.

“Farmers can be asset rich, but cash poor,” she instructed the BBC.

“They are not in it for the money – it’s a 365 day responsibility.”

The Liberal Democrats mentioned it was “utter rubbish” to say solely 500 of the UK’s wealthiest farmers’ estates can be affected annually.

The social gathering’s atmosphere spokesman Tim Farron instructed BBC Breakfast: “The only way that people can pay the inheritance is get rid of the farm – so corporates buy it.

“It’s merciless, it is unfair, it is also extremely silly”.