Hundreds of tractors drive through central London in farmers' protest
A second major protest will see hundreds of tractors descend on London, with other protests in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast.
Hundreds of tractors have taken to the streets of London in an “RIP British Farming” protest.
The demonstration – organised by Kent Fairness for Farmers and Save British Farming – saw farmers parking their agricultural vehicles on the streets outside parliament, as hundreds of MPs gathered for this week's prime minister's questions.
Protests are also being held in other UK cities in response to the government's agricultural inheritance tax changes, which organisers have described as "toxic". The demonstrations follow similar protests last month, involving thousands of farmers.
Despite the strength of feeling surrounding the issue, the government insists its support for the sector is “steadfast”.
Here is everything you need to know about the protests.
Where are the protests?
The main protest will be in London, but rallies are also scheduled to be held in the UK's other capital cities of Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, among other locations.
On Wednesday, farmers travelled on their tractors into London from across the country, including from Exmoor, Shropshire, Somerset and the home counties.
The vehicles were lined up on Whitehall as Sir Keir Starmer was challenged to “change course” on inheritance tax at PMQs, with slow drive around central London planned from about 12.45pm.
Speeches were then held as thousands of protesters gathered outside Downing Street, and organisers thanked those who turned up, especially “everyone who has come with a tractor”.
After the speeches, a minute of silence was held “for all the farmers who are no longer here”. Farmers were then encouraged to get back inside their tractors and start a slow drive around central London.
A young farmer at the rally accused the government of treating farmers like “second=class citizens”.
Chris Cowles, 28, is the second of two sons, with his older brother running the 200-acre family farm near Market Harborough in Leicestershire.
He said: “My brother farms and I have to make enough money to offset the inheritance tax. If your farm isn’t that profitable, which obviously is quite common these days, a lot of people will have to sell off potentially about 20% of their farm.
“You have to be saving for 30 or 40 years to offset the inheritance tax, which is sort of an insane thought, especially if you have a bunch of older farmers who would not have that opportunity and are not making that money.
“It’s almost expecting farmers to be second-class citizens – it’s certainly treating them like second-class citizens,” he added.
What are they protesting about?
Farmers are again protesting against a change to agricultural inheritance tax announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves in October’s budget, which the industry has described as “toxic”.
This centred around reforms to agricultural property relief (APR) to inheritance tax, which applies when farmers and landowners pass farmland to the next generation.
Under the changes, the full 100% relief from inheritance tax will be restricted to the first £1m of combined agricultural and business property relief, above which landowners will pay inheritance tax at 20%, compared with 40% on other estates.
Jeff Gibson, founder of Kent Fairness For Farmers, one of the organisers of Wednesday's protest, said: “In most cases, we are happy and immensely proud to provide food without any real financial gain, in the hope we can pass our farms, which we’ve worked so hard to protect and care for, to the next generation.
“The questions I ask you today are what future does farming have? Can we really expect the next generation to start their farming careers paying 10 years of tax burden because we died?"
Some farmers have said they will have to sell off land to meet the inheritance tax costs, with the NFU claiming 75% of farms stand to be above the £1m family farm tax threshold.
However, speaking at PMQs, Starmer repeated his assurance that the vast majority of farming families would be unaffected and contrasted £350m to support farmers paid out by ministers last week with, he claimed, a £350m underspend in relation to farmers by the Tories when they were in power.
Asked whether there would be any rethink on inheritance tax, the spokesman for Number 10 added: “No.
“We have been clear that we understand the strength of feeling about the changes, but we are clear this will only affect a small number of estates. Three-quarters of estates will be unaffected by these changes, but the government’s commitment to farmers is steadfast.”
Ministers have previously insisted that only around 500 of the wealthiest estates will have to pay tax under the move, and, ahead of the protest, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it had put £343m into the rural economy last week, in payments for nature-friendly farming activities, benefiting more than 31,000 farmers.
Defra also announced new details of its environmental land management schemes, which pay farmers for “public goods” ranging from healthy soil, rivers and hedgerows, to habitat creation and large-scale nature restoration work.
According to a Survation poll of over 1,000 people in England’s 100 most rural seats, commissioned by the Country Land and Business Association last week, opposition to the inheritance tax hike stood at 58%, with less than a quarter in support.
Among Labour voters in rural areas, 44% were against, while 37% were in favour.
Why are they protesting again?
To keep up the pressure on the government. Liz Webster, founder of Save British Farming, another organiser of the protest, accused Labour of launching an "anti-farming Stalinist offensive".
She said Starmer "must listen to farmers and step back from the brink and do what is right and best for our great country”.
What happened at the last protest?
On 19 November, an estimated 13,000 people gathered in Westminster to protest against the budget’s impact on farming.
Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, TV personality Jeremy Clarkson and leading politicians Kemi Badenoch, Sir Ed Davey and Nigel Farage were among them.
Watch: Jeremy Clarkson urges government to 'back down' on farm tax
The bulk of the protest was stationary, with people gathered on Whitehall listening to speeches, including one by Clarkson who said: "I know a lot of people across the country in all walks of life took a bit of a kick on the shin with that budget.
"You lot got a knee in the nuts and a hammer blow to the back of the head.”
The protest was peaceful, but the Metropolitan Police said tractor drivers who ploughed through barriers at the protest would be investigated. A red tractor drove over a traffic cone and through a no-entry sign on Whitehall at around midday, with a blue tractor entering the protest area behind it.
