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Nigel Farage has called for an end to “death taxes” in his address to British farmers ahead of a planned rally in Westminster.
On stage at a gathering of the group Farmers to Action, the Reform UK leader said: “No to death taxes full stop. End death taxes. They are wrong. They are immoral at every level.”
British farmers are set to descend on Whitehall for the third time in four months as they demand the government rethinks its inheritance tax plan.
Protesters are due to arrive in central London in their tractors at 1pm for the demonstration, organised by Save British Farming (SBF). The march is called “Change Your Tune, Starmer”.
Previous protests have seen thousands of tractors and tens of thousands of demonstrators moving through the capital.
They are marching against chancellor Rachel Reeves’s decision in her Budget to extend inheritance tax to agricultural land.
Liz Webster, the founder of SBF, accused Ms Reeves of ensuring that the UK is “marching into a food crisis”.
Industry leaders will address the crowds in Whitehall at 3.15pm. The speakers include National Farmers Union Tom Bradshaw and celebrity farmer Gareth Wyn Jones.
‘Labour do not want farmers,’ says demonstrator
Alan Hughes, a farmer in the Hereford-Shropshire border region, said he had to run farm diversifications “just to stay afloat and pay the bills”.
Addressing the crowd at the Farmers To Action campaign event at Belmont Farm, Mr Hughes, 36, added: “My fear, like many here, is that I will be the last generation to farm our land.
“Labour do not want farmers. They want large corporations to produce food, because they know those that control the food we eat, control the nation.”
Aiming his remarks at the Government, Mr Hughes added: “You need to abolish inheritance tax for all. You need to stop taxing us to the hilt while sending our money abroad and sort out our national infrastructure and food security.”
Nearly 150,000 sign petition to maintain current farmers tax
Monday’s tractor rally, organised by Save British Farming, comes as MPs debate an e-petition with more than 148,000 signatures calling to keep the current inheritance tax exemptions for working farms.
The petition has warned that the changes could “devastate farms nationwide, forcing families to sell land and assets just to stay on their property”.
Labour has insisted it will not make a U-turn on its plans to introduce a 20% inheritance tax rate on farms worth more than £1 million.
Parliament is due to debate the petition on Monday.
In pictures: Nigel Farage attends farmers demonstration
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Derek Chisora attend a farmers demonstration against proposed changes to inheritance tax rules for inherited farming assets.
Nigel is ‘jumping on the bandwagon’ – protest organiser claims.
Nigel Farage is not invited to today’s protest, organised by Save British Farming.
Instead, the Reform leader is addressing farmers making a pit stop on their way to London this morning.
Asked if Mr Farage was welcome, Liz Webster, founder of Save British Farming, told The Independent his support for Donald Trump and an American trade deal undermined British farmers.
Farmers fear a trade deal would allow in chlorinated chicken and other products that would undercut them.
Ms Webster: “Nigel likes to be seen as part of the farming community, but you can’t have your cake and eat it. Nigel is in awe of Donald Trump, he is the first person to want an American trade deal, if you have the American trade deal that destroys British farming, so you can’t have both.
“If Nigel really did support farming he wouldn’t be supporting a trade deal with America and Donald Trump.
“Getting rid of our food security to bend a knee for Donald Trump leaves us in a very precarious position. How do we have sovereignty if we do that?”
She added: “I think everyone can see he is jumping on the bandwagon, he’s not been invited to speak at any of these events and he just comes along. He wants to be seen as the man of the countryside, if he is then he needs to drop his love of Donald Trump.”
First tractors arrive in Whitehall
The first few tractors have started to arrive in Whitehall ahead of this afternoon’s rally.
Our reporter Barney Davis is at the scene and will be bringing all the latest updates.
Analysis: Farage in the spotlight is bad news for Badenoch
Monday’s protests against Labour’s tax raid on family farmers have once again seen Nigel Farage take centre stage – and it is bad news for Kemi Badenoch.
With growing frustration among voters at Labour’s first eight months in office, the official opposition should be taking the chance to rebuild ties with the public and taking the fight to Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.
Instead, all eyes are on Mr Farage and his Reform UK MPs. Headlines over the weekend were dominated by the party, and whether it will enter into a pact with Ms Badenoch’s Tories before the next general election.
Even the government’s current media strategy – to flex its muscles over illegal migration – is aimed squarely at Mr Farage and his pals.
It means Ms Badenoch, already a relatively unknown figure compared with Mr Farage, is squandering valuable opportunities to capitalise on Labour’s more unpopular policies and rebuild the Tory brand.
The next general election is increasingly shaping up as a battle between Sir Keir and Mr Farage, while Ms Badenoch risks sliding into irrelevance.
Why have the changes been brought in?
The Government has said “difficult decisions” had to be made to fill a £22 billion fiscal hole it inherited from the Conservatives, and it is targeting the agricultural inheritance tax relief to make it fairer.
It said figures showed that 7 per cent of the wealthiest estates account for 40 per cent of the total value of agricultural property relief, costing the Treasury £219 million.
Reform UK will not do a pact with the Conservatives
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said his party will not do a pact with the Conservatives because they do not consider them to be “honourable”.
Asked if he stood by Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf’s comments that the party would not do a pact with the Tories or Boris Johnson, Mr Farage told the PA news agency: “To do a pact with people, you’ve got to think, I’m going to shake your hand and you’re an honourable person.
“After the betrayal post the 2019 election, we do not believe them to be honourable. Simple as that, so the answer is no.”
Speaking at a Farmers To Action event in north London, Mr Farage added: “I think we’re the ones providing the challenge. We’re the ones out doing stuff every day. We may only have five MPs, but boy, they’re certainly being felt in Westminster, and the Labour Party doesn’t know what it is anymore.
“And frankly, today’s the 100th day of Kemi Badenoch’s leadership – it doesn’t stand for anything.”
Farage calls on farmers to put pressure on rural Labour MPs
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said a campaign by farmers against changes to inheritance tax rules can be successful if it is “persistent and peaceful”.
Speaking at a Farmers To Action campaign event in north London before a tractor rally in Westminster, Mr Farage told the PA news agency: “I’m pleased to see the campaign is ramping up. It’s growing right across the country.
“The message I’ve been putting to them, I think they’re listening too, which is 100 Labour MPs now represent rural seats – if they see local communities getting behind these families, they’re going to start getting scared, and they’re going to start putting pressure on No 10, and let’s face it, they’re in pretty big trouble already.
“So I think if this campaign is persistent and peaceful, they can get change.”
Asked if he thought inheritance tax should be scrapped completely, Mr Farage said: “Yes, I do actually. You’re basically taxing money that’s been taxed already as a death tax, and it’s horrible.
“People living in semi-detached houses in London are now dragged into inheritance tax. And yes, of course, you can do seven-year planning and all the rest of it, but unlikely things happen. I honestly believe just getting rid of inheritance tax as a whole would be a good thing.”
How many farmers will be affected by the changes?
According to the Treasury, some 27 per cent of estates claiming agricultural property relief (APR) were above the £1 million threshold in 2021/2022, suggesting that nearly three-quarters of farms would not fall within the scope of the charges.
The Treasury says around 500 estates a year are expected to pay inheritance tax under the changes.
However, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) says farm businesses have also qualified separately for business property relief, which can cover things such as harvested grain and livestock, machinery and diversified businesses such as camping on a farmer’s field.
Now the two are combined, with a single £1 million allowance before inheritance tax is levied, which could mean more farms are in scope.
The NFU points to figures from the Environment Department (Defra) showing that 66 per cent of farm businesses in England have a net value of more than £1 million.
But the Government has countered that analysis, saying that looking at asset value alone does not necessarily mean the farm will be affected, as it depends on individual circumstances.
Source: independent.co.uk
