Farmers have revealed plans to significantly escalate their battle against Rachel Reeves and the Treasury over the hated ‘family farm tax’.
The Chancellor announced plans to levy 20 per cent death duties on previously exempt farmers in her October 30 budget, provoking furious reaction from the farming community.
Many asset-rich but cash-poor farmers say the tax will wipe out profits for decades and persuade many farmers to simply sell up, damaging the UK’s food security.
Two huge tractor protests gridlocked central London in response, but the government refused to budge, insisting it is a fair and balanced way to plug the £22billion black hole.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed even went as far as refusing to apologise to elderly farmers who have been left terrified of dying and saddling their children with farm-threatening tax bills.
Steve Reed said the farmers were “wrong” about the policyPAAs we head towards 2025, the farming community is searching for ways to break the deadlock and force the government to back down.
Several farmers took to the London Palladium’s stage on Monday to draw attention to their plight, with many outlining what they want to see happen next.
Jamie Blackett, a writer, activist and farmer who farms in Dumfries and Galloway, said: “I hope we get going with a proper winter of discontent and let everybody know exactly what we feel about this.
“I think the government need to listen, and they need to listen to their own advisors who are telling them this is a bad idea.
“I think Dan Neidle’s [left wing academic who initially defended the farm tax before U-turning] idea to raise the threshold and then have a clawback if the farm is sold would be fair enough to pay inheritance taxes.
“If they don’t listen, then I think we need to get out there and really revolt in civil disobedience in a way that is going to actually bring the government to its senses.
“So far it’s been just farming, and I’m uncomfortable with that because I don’t like arguing that we should be made an exception of.
“It needs to be all businesses. And next time when the tractors are driving down Whitehall, we need lorries, hearses and all the other businesses need to be there.”
Jamie Blackett calling for a ‘winter of discontent’ at the recent BPR summit
GB News
Blackett referred to other businesses specifically as he was speaking at the Business Property Relief (BPR) summit.
While changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) have dominated headlines, Labour has also changed BPR rules with huge effects for small and medium sized businesses, hence the summit.
Held at the London Palladium thanks to prominent farm and small business owner supporter Andrew Lloyd-Webber, the event brought family businesses from across the country to discuss and highlight the crippling effect of Reeves’ Budget.
BPR and APR go hand in hand as many farms use the BPR scheme to claim inheritance tax relief for parts of their businesses.
Olly Harrison, a fifth-generation farmer turned YouTuber who organised the first farm protest, also hinted at further protest plans.
“Will this chancellor have the honesty and humility to reverse her decision, or will she simply hide waiting for the fire to go out, because it won’t,” said the father of three.
“A month ago we had 45,000 farmers on her doorstep. We had a voice. We want to use today as a platform for businesses outside of agriculture to have a voice.
“To build a bigger army so the next time it won’t be 45,000 people protesting, it’ll be 250,000.
“It’ll be farmers, it’ll be family businesses and all their employees coming to make a stand for the people who over the generations built Britain and want to continue into the future.”
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Olly Harrison, a farmer in Cheshire, says he now can’t afford to dieOlly HarrisonClive Bailye, a farmer from Staffordshire and founder of the Farming Forum website, said: “The government need to pause this whole policy. Speak to experts and consultants.
“First, take away the massive stress that everyone’s under right now.
“I don’t want to sit around a Christmas dinner table kind of half-hoping my mum or dad might choke on a sprout and it’s all sorted before April 2026.
“They’re not conversations we should be having or thoughts we should be having, are they?I think they need to understand the human consequence right now.
“Secondly, I just want a government that is more sensible about this tax. Trying to tax wealth isn’t the same as trying to tax our income or our profits.
“I don’t think any of us sitting here think we don’t want to pay any tax. We all want the infrastructure and the services the country deserves.
But trying to take it from wealth rather than profits and income that’s where there’s a problem. We haven’t got the liquid funds to pay that.”
This comes after polling revealed the British public are firmly on the side of the farmers in this high-profile row.
Polling by Ipsos found that even amongst 2024 GE Labour voters, sentiment was mostly behind rural folk over the Treasury.
The research found rural voters were deserting Labour for the Conservatives and Reform, with many saying they felt let down by Labour’s supposed commitment to the countryside.
Responding, a Defra spokesperson said: “A government spokesperson said:
“Our commitment to farmers remains steadfast – we have committed £5 billion to the farming budget over two years, including more money than ever for sustainable food production, and we are developing a 25-year farming roadmap, focusing on how to make the sector more profitable in the decades to come.
“Our reform to Agricultural and Business Property Relief will impact around 500 estates a year. For these estates, inheritance tax will be at half the rate paid by others, with 10 years to pay the liability back interest free. This is a fair and balanced approach which fixes the public services we all rely on.”
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