𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Farmers have vowed to stand firm on their demands for Rachel Reeves to reverse her “unfair and unjust” inheritance tax raid on the struggling sector.

Hundreds of food growers staged go-slow protests across the country on Monday ahead of the Chancellor’s Budget on Wednesday. Thousands more will descend on London with their tractors hours before Ms Reeves takes to the Commons to unleash her tax-raising statements on the nation.

Newbury farmer Dan Willis, who is among the organisers of Wednesday’s action, said: “We are all representing the working people of Britain to keep up the pressure on this present government to withdraw the proposed inheritance tax (IHT) changes. We have not gone away and we will not back down. This unfair, unjust family farming tax needs to be reversed.”

The go-slow protest on Monday was the third demonstration of its kind following similar rallies in February and December following IHT changes unveiled by Ms Reeves during her Budget speech last October.

The Chancellor announced that from April 2026, combined agricultural and business property assets up to £1million will still receive 100% relief but anything above that will be taxed at an effective rate of 20%. Asset rich farmers who are cash poor fear they will have to sell off their land – making it unviable for food production – to foot the tax bill.

The Daily Express has campaigned for the Government to U-turn on its IHT raid through the Save Britain’s Family Farms crusade.

Mo Metcalf-Fisher, of the Countryside Alliance, said: “The family farm tax has caused a huge amount of anxiety across the countryside and since the budget last year, farmers, supported by the public, have taken part in numerous demonstrations to express their hurt and upset.

“Given the strength of feeling within the farming sector, it is very unlikely these demonstrations will diminish. It is clear to almost everybody that the Government need to get back around the table, with the farming sector, to work out a way forward that won’t see thousands of farming families thrown under the bus. It is vital the Government urgently resets its relationship with farmers and the wider countryside”.

National Farmers Union president Tom Bradshaw warned that family farms across the UK are halting investment or anticipating having to sell parts or all of their farm to pay an IHT bill.

Some horticultural businesses have also seen employment costs increase by hundreds of thousands of pounds after Ms Reeves hiked employer national insurance contributions in last year’s budget.

Gavin Lane, president of the Country Land and Business Association, said: “The last Budget shook the countryside, and the next one could hit even harder. The signals coming out of Westminster are not encouraging.

“One suggestion is capping lifetime gifting, which many families depend on to pass on their business without losing too much of it to tax. Another is extending national insurance to rental income, which would erode one of the few steady revenue streams rural businesses have left. There is also talk of changes to capital gains tax, which would fall on the very people trying to build and invest.

“Taken together, these taxes could force rural businesses to pull back rather than grow: cutting jobs, stalling investment, and reducing the tax the Treasury aims to raise.

“After a year of uncertainty, many in the countryside feel their concerns have been set aside. Rural Britain needs a clear sign that growth matters here as much as anywhere else. Give these businesses the backing and ambition shown in other parts of the economy and they will repay it many times over.”

The Tories have urged the Government to take immediate action to support farmers, food producers, fishermen as the UK faces a “food and farming” emergency.

Shadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins wrote to Ms Reynolds last week with five measures that the Government can implement immediately to alleviate critical cashflow pressures.

This includes scrapping changes to IHT and urgently opening applications for the new Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds insisted last week she was looking to “focus on the future” of the sector.

Ms Reynolds announced some new policies, including a “rural taskforce” publishing 50 actions to support rural businesses early next year, measures to make it easier to build reservoirs on farms and plans for a rural and wildlife crime strategy.

She said: “This Government sees the rural economy as absolutely fundamental to our growth mission.

“When rural economies succeed, the whole country succeeds.”

Ms Reynolds also spoke about an upcoming review into farming profitability, developing a 25-year farming road map, a land use framework, the environmental improvement plan and the redesigned sustainable farming incentive (SFI) subsidy scheme – all due to be unveiled in the coming months.

“Let me be clear about what we’re building together, a rural economy that thrives with sustainable, profitable farm businesses that can plan for the long term,” she said.

A spokesman from the Treasury said: “We’re backing British farms with £1million annual investment allowance for plant and machinery investments, billions for sustainable food, and action to cut EU export costs.

“Right now, 40% of agricultural property relief, worth £219million, goes to just 117 estates. Our reforms will channel that funding into vital public services.”