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About 45000 UK farmers took to the streets in London last month.
On the same day that the protesters against David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill marched on Parliament in Wellington, on the other side of the world, UK farmers were also marching on London.
An estimated 45,000 converged on Whitehall, a short distance from Parliament and a stone’s throw from number 11 Downing Street, the home of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who announced several measures in October’s budget that would have far-reaching implications on agriculture and the wider sphere of other family-owned businesses.
The headline news was the chancellor’s decision to reduce inheritance tax reliefs from April 2026, striking a huge blow to farmers’ confidence. Currently, farmers on their death can pass down their businesses to a spouse or children without any type of taxation, by claiming 100% Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR).
From April 2026, APR and BPR will be capped at £1m, with values above this only benefitting from 50% relief, effectively delivering a 20% tax on any assets over £1m to the successor, which can be paid off over 10 years.
The Treasury has claimed around 500 farms a year will be affected, meaning 73% of farms would not have to pay the tax, based on HMRC figures from 2021-22 which showed there were 462 inherited farms valued above £1m that year.
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA), alongside a myriad of rural advisors has said the changes could impact 70,000 UK farms over time.
This estimate is made based on land being valued at an average cost of £10,000/ acre, meaning 100 acres will hit the £1m threshold, with the value of growing crops, seeds, fertilisers and plant and machinery quickly pushing these values towards £2m.
Speakers at the protest pointed out that while farmers were asset rich, they were largely cash poor, with current average profits of around £40,000 per year, with the likely solution of needing to sell land to meet the inheritance tax debt – a move that itself would result in a separate Capital Gains Tax.
Raising a huge round of applause, celebrity Jeremy Clarkson sent a message to government, saying, “For the sake of every farmer or landowner paralysed by a fog of despair that has been foisted on them, I beg the government to be big and accept that this measure was rushed through. It wasn’t thought out properly and is a huge mistake, so please admit this and back down.”
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