Farmers protest latest: Jeremy Clarkson claims Labour ‘cocked up’ inheritance tax raid as Andrew Lloyd Webber joins thousands marching in London – live

Farmers are taking to the streets this week amid a furious backlash on changes to inheritance tax for farmers.

Here are answers to some of the key questions.

Previously, farming businesses qualified for 100% relief on inheritance tax on agricultural property and business property.

But now the tax is being imposed on farms worth more than £1 million, with an effective tax rate of 20% on assets above the threshold, rather than the normal 40% rate for inheritance tax.

The Government says that the actual threshold before paying inheritance tax could be as much as £3 million, once exemptions for each partner in a couple and for the farm property are taken into account.

• 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 Tories, and it is targeting the agricultural inheritance tax relief to make it fairer.

It said figures showed that the 7% of wealthiest estates account for 40% of the total value of agricultural property relief, costing the taxpayer £219 million.

• Why do farmers say the changes are a problem?

According to the NFU, while farms may have a high nominal asset value – the value of their land and business assets – the returns from farming are often very low, so farming families may not have the reserves to pay for inheritance tax liabilities without selling off assets.

The NFU’s president Tom Bradshaw said the change had left elderly farmers in the “cruellest predicament”, as they may not live for another seven years to take advantage of exemptions for gifting assets, or to hand over assets in a way that qualifies for the gifting exemption.

He has also warned the changes could undermine investment as farmers will be wary of increasing the balance sheet as they will be liable to pay inheritance tax on it.

At the moment there seems to be something of an impasse, with the Prime Minister and his ministers sticking to their guns on the issue, and farmers insisting it must be reversed.

Farmers are taking to the streets for a rally, with thousands expected to turn out in Westminster today to show their anger at what one of the organisers, Lincolnshire farmer Andrew Ward, described as a “spiteful Budget which threatens the very heart of the countryside”.

The impact of today’s and any future protests is yet to be seen.

In response to calls for Rachel Reeves to meet farmers, Downing Street insisted the Treasury had been in contact with them about inheritance tax changes.

A No 10 spokeswoman said: ‘As I understand, the Treasury has had engagement with the NFU. Meetings are otherwise for the Chancellor and her team to set out.

‘For the PM’s part, he met with the NFU, I think, in Downing Street in his early weeks in office and regularly engages with all sectors.’

Environment Secretary Steve Reed met the NFU’s president on Monday night and will address the Country Land and Business Association on Thursday, the spokeswoman added.

It comes as MPs Nigel Farage, Kemi Badenoch and Sir Ed Davey were among the thousands of people in London for the farmers’ protest.

Sir Ed told farmers in Whitehall ‘you deserve so much better’.

Meanwhile, Mr Farage told farmers at the protest: ‘I can feel myself that today is not just about inheritance tax. It really is farmers versus Starmer.’

The farmers’ protest had been scheduled to march along Whitehall and stop outside the House of Parliament following speeches this afternoon.

But the Met Police has issued a statement saying that is no longer the case due to the number of people who have turned up.

The force earlier estimated that more than 10,000 people were in attendance, with more arriving.

‘The protest will continue in Whitehall instead,’ the force added.

Clarkson said he knows people ‘took a kick in the shin’ after the Budget. But he added farmers took a ‘kick in the nuts’.

‘I don’t know where to start,’ Clarkson added, on inheritance tax. ‘Rachel Reeves has told us 72 percent of farms are going to be unaffected by this.’

He went on to ask the crowd how many thought they would be unaffected by the tax changes, before hitting out at Victoria Derbyshire from Newsnight.

He continued: ‘I’m off my t*ts on codeine and paracetamol, I don’t know what I’m saying up here’.

He was advised not to attend today’s protest by his doctors following surgery.

Before leaving the stage, he told the government to ‘back down’ over the tax and admit it has ‘made a mistake’.

Jeremy Clarkson had just started speaking in Whitehall when he was interrupted by calls for a ‘medic’.

He said: ‘I lived in London 25, 30 years, and when I lived here… I thought farmers drove round in Range Rovers until February.’

‘Then I started farming and I camne to understand how unbelievably difficult it is.’

But before he could continue, he was interrupted by calls for a medic to assist a member of the public.

He then continued as planned.

Jeremy Clarkson is preparing to take to the stage in front of a crowd exceeding 10,000 people in central London in the coming minutes.

Speeches by various farmers and union leaders are already underway.

We’ll bring you Clarkson’s comments as soon as we get them.

A tenant farmer who joined the protest in central London said ‘every single farmer’ will be affected by changes in the Budget.

Daniel Spours, a tenant farmer from north Northumberland, travelled to Whitehall to protest against changes to inheritance tax and carbon rules which he said will affect the price of fertiliser.

Mr Spours said: ‘We are about £60,000 worse off next year from payments that have been slashed by the Government.

‘Going forward, there is more taxes to come on fertiliser that’s going to affect us hugely as well, so it’s looking pretty grim.’

Rachel Reeves confirmed Government plans to introduce the UK Carbon Border Adjustment from January 1 2027, which Mr Spours said will impact the price of fertiliser.

‘I’m not a farm owner,’ Mr Spours. ‘I’m just a tenant, but we still will be impacted by business property relief.’

Changes to inheritance tax are ‘balanced and proportionate,’ Downing Street maintained, as it urged ‘caution’ around ‘calculations that are done based on the value of assets alone’.

Asked whether farmers protesting in Westminster had misunderstood the Government’s policy, a Number 10 spokeswoman said: ‘Farmers are the stewards of our countryside and we do not underestimate their important contribution to the economy and also our rural economy.

‘The Prime Minister has spoken about his personal commitment to farmers, evident from the increased £5 billion support we’ve committed over two years in the Budget.

‘When it comes to the decisions that we’ve taken, we’ve not taken these lightly, but the Government inherited a £22 billion black hole in the public finances and we had to take difficult decisions to rebalance the public finances and also ensure we’re supporting the public services that everyone relies on, farmers and families in rural communities included.

‘As to the changes, we maintain that they are balanced and proportionate, and that only around 500 claims a year are expected to be affected.’

The farmer’s fight against Labour tax raids has taken an unexpected turn as protesters are now going ‘nuclear’.

At least – that’s what Sky News might have you believe after a news reader announced the disgruntled workers were preparing to put up the fight in Westminster amid a display of missiles.

The embarrassing blunder was quickly jumped upon by social media, but some have actually been pleased at the ‘news’ saying ‘good on them’ and ‘if that’s what it takes, launch those cowpat missiles’.

It comes after the news presenter announced the bulletin item – ‘Farmers preparing to protest in Westminster as inheritance tax anger grows’ – while a missile launched off of barren wasteland more than once under the header ‘Farmer Protests’.

Farming leaders have accused the Chancellor of refusing to engage with them over controversial changes to inheritance tax, as thousands of farmers marched on Westminster.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) is holding a mass lobby of MPs with 1,800 of its members – three times as many people as originally planned – to urge backbenchers to stand up to the Government’s plans to impose inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1 million.

Many more joined a separate rally in Whitehall as they protest against last month’s Budget, which also sped up the phase-out of EU-era subsidies as funding is switched to nature-friendly farming schemes.

Farmers have reacted with anger and dismay to the inheritance tax changes for farming businesses, which limit the existing 100% relief for farms to only the first £1 million of combined agricultural and business property.

Some warn they will have to sell off land to meet the costs and are threatening to strike over the pressures they say they are being put under by Government policy, while there are warnings over people’s mental health.

Shadow trade minister Greg Smith has said the Government ‘just don’t understand’ that farmers operate on ‘really tight margins’ – but admitted farming has been made more difficult by Tory legislation.

‘They don’t have a million quid sat in the bank to pay a random tax bill,’ he said. ‘The only way they can meet that bill is by selling land.’

He said that farms are ‘incredibly asset-rich but very, very cash-poor’ and the changes would mean that businesses are ‘potentially not viable at all’.

Asked whether farming became harder under regulations legislated for by the Tories, he said: ‘It’s definitely changed, because we went from the Common Agricultural Policy to a new system, and that system is being transitioned in slowly, and change is something that is very, very difficult.

‘And, yes, there have been some additional environmental regulations and schemes that have been layered in on top to meet the 2050 net zero target, which the last government indeed legislated for.

‘What we’ve got to do now, though, and I’ve always been clear on this, is find that happy medium that still prioritises food production.’

The Met Police has confirmed in excess of 10,000 people are currently at the farmers’ protest in Westminster, with more arriving.

Taking to social media this morning, the force said: ‘The event is underway in Whitehall with no issues to report.

‘Both lanes are closed south of Horse Guards. Diversions are in place and motorists are advised to use other routes.

‘It’s always difficult to calculate an exact attendance figure for these events, but we estimate that there are now in excess of 10,000 people present in Whitehall with more arriving.’

TV presenter and journalist Jeremy Clarkson said Rachel Reeves has used a ‘blunderbuss’ to hit farmers as he arrived in London to protest against changes to agricultural inheritance tax.

He said he opposed the tax changes, adding: ‘If she’d have wanted to take out the likes of James Dyson and investment bankers and so on, she would have used a sniper’s rifle, but she’s used a blunderbuss and she’s hit all this lot.

‘It was – as I understand it – it was a very rushed last-minute decision and I think we all make mistakes in life, and I think it’s time for them to say ‘you know what, we’ve cocked this one up a bit’ and back down.’

Asked about his comments in an interview with the Times in 2021 that avoiding inheritance tax was ‘the critical thing’ in his decision to buy land, he said: ‘That’s actually quite funny because the real reason I bought the farm was because I wanted to shoot, so I thought if I told a bunch of people that I bought a farm so I could shoot pheasants it might look bad.

‘So, I thought I better come up with another excuse, so I said inheritance tax. I actually didn’t know about inheritance tax until after I bought it. I didn’t mind, obviously, but the real reason I bought it is because I wanted to shoot.’

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride said the Government ‘broke its promise’ in imposing inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1 million.

Speaking at a photocall of Tory MPs and farmers as a large-scale protest kicked off in London over the changes, Mr Stride said: ‘We’re doing this to show solidarity with our farmers.

‘We believe that this Government doesn’t understand the countryside or farming, broke its promise when it said that it would not be imposing inheritance tax on farms, it has now done that.

‘That’s going to have a devastating impact on the farming sector up and down the country with family farms broken up.’

Farmers have not had to pay inheritance tax since the 1980s.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed dismissed claims from critics that Labour did not understand the countryside.

He told journalists: ‘This Labour Government has just allocated £5 billion to support sustainable food production in the UK.

‘That’s the biggest budget of that kind in our country’s history and it shows that we’re backing farmers.

‘We’ve gone further than that as well, £60 million to help farmers affected by flooding, we’re going to cut farmers’ energy bills by setting up GB Energy, we’re going to seek a new trade deal with the European Union so we can get food exports moving across the border again and we’re launching the first-ever cross-government rural crime strategy.

‘All of that shows farmers that this is a government on their side and the changes to inheritance tax will affect only around 500 farms. The vast majority of farmers will pay nothing more.’

Environment Secretary Steve Reed has insisted that only a few hundred farms would be impacted, rather than the tens of thousands claimed by critics of the inheritance tax change.

He said this morning: ‘The Government’s been very clear: about 500 farms will be affected and the vast majority of farms will pay nothing more under the new scheme.

‘That figure has been validated now by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility and by the independent financial think tank the IFS.

‘There are all sorts of other figures flying around that I don’t recognise.

‘If farmers look at the facts they will see the vast majority of them will pay nothing more under the new scheme than they did under the old scheme.’

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, best known for creating some of the West End’s most-loved musicals, has joined farmers in Westminster today calling for a u-turn on inheritance tax changes.

Lloyd Webber was seen posing with farmers and holding a poster reading: ‘Support our farmers, protect our future’.

He was joined by the likes of Jeremy Clarkson, Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage at the event, which thousands of farmers are expected to join.

England rugby star and dairy farmer’s son Phil Vickery has added his voice to critics of Labour‘s inheritance tax grab, declaring in an attack on ‘the very backbone’ of the UK.

The 48-year-old worked as a herdsman on his parents’ farm in Devon before going on to win 73 caps for England. He is a qualified cattle inseminator and maintains strong links to the farming community.

Speaking out before a protest in London today, Vickery suggested moves to levy inheritance IHT on farms more than £1million would do immense damage to the sector.

‘Keir Starmer is destroying the future of our farmers and their families,’ he said in comments reported by Farmers Weekly.

‘This is a direct attack on our heritage and the very backbone of our country. I feel so let down and angry.’

Thousands of farmers have gathered in London this morning ahead of a march on Parliament.

Farmers and their supporters have brought machinery, placards and banners as they protest against measures announced in last month’s Budget which would see them pay inheritance tax on assets in excess of £1 million.

Conservative and Reform UK MPs were among those to join the farmers in opposition to the plans.

Jeremy Clarkson and union leaders are also among the crowd.

Jeremy Clarkson has arrived in London to join farmers protesting against inheritance tax changes for family farms.

He is expected to take a leading role in today’s demonstration after becoming Britain’s most famous farmer after buying Diddly Squat.

He last night accused Labour of a form of ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the countryside.

NFU president Tom Bradshaw has accused Labour of breaking its manifesto promises with tax changes for farmers.

He told NFU members gathered in London ahead of today’s protest the controversial inheritance tax policy delivers ‘the complete opposite’ of the manifesto pledge: ‘food security is national security.’

He added: ‘We know the horrendous pressure it is putting on the older generation of farmers who have given everything to providing food for this country.

‘We know that any tax revenue will be taken from our children and raised from those that die in tragic circumstances, all within the next seven years.’

To sustained applause, he said: ‘The human impact of this policy is simply not acceptable, it’s wrong.’

The new Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch joined farmers alongside her shadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins in Westminster today.

The pair were seen speaking to farmers at the protest against inheritance tax and taking photographs with those gathered.

The Conservatives oppose Labour’s tax hike on family farms, along with most other political parties.

Labour says the move is necessary to fund the NHS and other public services.

National Farmers’ Union president Tom Bradshaw told members gathered for a mass lobby of their MPs over the changes to inheritance tax for farmers that the policy ‘will rip the heart out of family farms’.

Mr Bradshaw received a standing ovation from the gathered farmers after his impassioned speech, in which he said an estimated 75% of commercial farm businesses ‘were caught in the eye of this storm’ of a policy which he described as a ‘stab in the back’.

He warned the inheritance tax change was the straw that broke the camel’s back, along with a host of issues in the Budget, and said: ‘The impact for retail prices and shelf prices is going to have to be dramatic. It’s an inflationary budget for food production and you in this group have nothing left to give.

‘It’s been nothing but a bad Budget and I’ve never seen anything like it in my lifetime.’

He urged NFU members to join the rally organised by other farmers in Westminster to show politicians a united front by the sector.

In a separate protest, the National Union of Farmers chief Tom Bradshaw broke down in tears while telling a hall full of farmers that they had received a ‘stab in the back’.

‘You know what this means for our families, our children and our farms,’ he told the audience at Church House in Westminster.

With his voice breaking with emotion, he continued: ‘It is wrong. It is wrong on every level. Just as bad as that it won’t achieve what the Treasury set out to achieve. This is a policy that will rip the heart out of the British family farm.’

Changes to inheritance tax paid by farmers are ‘catastrophic’ for the agricultural sector, farmers said today.

Farmers are arriving at Church House Conference Centre in London where NFU members are meeting on Tuesday morning.

Tom Walton, a farmer from Buckinghamshire said: ‘My motivation is to try and engage with the Government to make them understand why the changes that they’ve made in the Budget are so catastrophic for the agricultural sector and the nation’s food security in general.

‘This is likely to be the first of many engagements that we have with the Government. If today is successful, then that’s terrific, and if not then we will continue to apply pressure.’

Mo Metcalf-Fisher, director of external affairs at the Countryside Alliance, is at today’s protest and says the poor weather will not put attendees off.

He says: ‘While the weather is pretty grizzly, it’s exactly the sort of conditions our amazing farmers work in to feed us and keep our countryside looking beautiful.

‘We must stand with them today in opposition to this hideous tax on small family farms.’

Reform UK MPs James McMurdock, Richard Tice, Lee Anderson and Rupert Lowe joined British farmers on Tuesday morning as they gathered in Westminster for a day of protest.

The party has been highly critical of Labour’s agricultural reforms, which the government say are necessary to fund the NHS.

The four MPs joined farmers holding placards and parking tractors outside the Houses of Parliament.

Daily Mail columnist and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged his support for protesting farmers on Tuesday.

Taking to social media this morning, Johnson said farmers ‘work all hours’ to feed Britain and accused Chancellor Rachel Reeves of ‘clobbering’ the industry.

It is nearly three weeks since Rachel Reeves unveiled her huge tax-raising Budget.

Ministers always expected blowback. But few anticipated that changes to inheritance rules on farms would be such a big flashpoint.

Labour MPs representing rural seats are nervous about the scale of the backlash, and will get a noisy reminder of the anger in Westminster today.

Questions have been asked over whether the £500million a year brought in by the changes is worth the undoubted political strife, especially when the government is already fighting on so many other fronts.

However, so far Downing Street looks to be digging in, ruling out any kind of softening. The calculation is that while farmers might howl, there will be limited sympathy from the wider public.

A fourth-generation family farmer said there is a possibility he and other farmers will strike if changes to agricultural property relief are not reversed.

Richard Wainwright, 58, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, was at Church House Conference Centre in central London on Tuesday morning ahead of a meeting with the National Farmers’ Union (NFU).

Mr Wainwright, whose grandfather began farming with a few cows and delivered milk to the surrounding area said: ‘We are talking about possibly striking. I hope it doesn’t come to that because that’s seriously going to impact the food chain.’

On the impact on his farm, he said: ‘We’ve got to possibly sell a 20% share of the farmland to be able to cover the tax bill. For us it’s around £600,000 we are going to have to pay.

‘It’s like I’m going to have to buy my own farm back.’

Jeremy Clarkson is expected to defy doctors’ orders and lead thousands of farmers from Diddly Squat and descend on Westminster to protest against the inheritance tax raid.

Farmers gathering for today’s mass protest in London warned that ‘things will get bad very fast’ if the government refuses to scrap plans for inheritance tax on farms.

Thousands are set to descend on Westminster to vent their anger over what has been called the ‘family farm death tax’ introduced in last month’s Budget.

Fuming Clarkson, 64, is currently recovering from a life-saving heart operation and was ordered not to go on the march by his doctors and to ‘avoid stress’.

Despite this he – joined by co-star Kaleb Cooper – will lead ‘two coaches of farmers’ from Diddly Squat to demonstrate on the ‘hugely important issue’.

Today’s farmers’ protest is to take place in Westminster, central London.

Thousands of farmers are expected to gather by Richmond Terrace before parading down Whitehall and ending at Parliament Square, outside the Houses of Parliament.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed has treated the farming industry with ‘contempt’, the president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said.

Tom Bradshaw told LBC: ‘The way he’s treated the industry with contempt in what he’s been writing has landed very, very badly.’

Of the meeting he had with Mr Reed on Monday, the union president said: ‘I hope the Secretary of State was listening, I hope the Government are listening, I want to sit down with the Chancellor and sort this mess out.’

He also told the media this morning that farmers are ‘absolutely’ determined to continue putting pressure on the government until it ‘changes its mind’.

Labour has ‘destroyed’ a ‘contract’ between farming and the government dating back to the Second World War with its changes to inheritance tax, the president of the National Famers’ Union (NFU) has said.

Tom Bradshaw told Sky News: ‘There’s always been an understanding, a contract, between farming and society, farming and the government, ever since the Second World War, and this Labour Government have just destroyed that contract with the changes they proposed to the inheritance tax.’

‘We’d love to pay more tax,’ Mr Bradshaw continued. ‘If we get proper margins from food production, and we end up swelling the Treasury coffers, bring it on.

‘But at the moment the supply chain doesn’t give us those returns that enables us to save the money to pay the inheritance tax that this Government now wants to take.’

Jeremy Clarkson has made outrageous claims about a supposed ‘ethnic cleansing’ plot ahead of the farmers’ protest in Westminster later today.

Writing in his column in The Sun, Clarkson said: ‘I’m becoming more and more convinced that Starmer and Reeves have a sinister plan.

‘They want to carpet bomb our farmland with new towns for immigrants and net zero windfarms.

‘But before they can do that, they have to ethnically cleanse the countryside of farmers.’

Clarkson provided no evidence to back up his claims.

Former PM Liz Truss has given her backing to British farmers in today’s expected protests.

The shortlived leader said on X, formerly Twitter that the changed inheritance tax plans threaten to ‘tax family farms out of existence’.

She accused Labour of a ‘socialist attack’ and claimed that ‘the British way of life is under threat’.

The Government has contingency measures in place to protect food supplies if farming protests intensify, the policing minister Dame Diana Johnson has said.

Asked if she could guarantee that there will not be food shortages leading up to Christmas, she told Sky News: ‘Issues around food security are obviously national security issues.

‘There are plans in place, there are contingencies always in place to deal with that, but I’m confident that won’t happen.’

Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson has defended the changes to inheritance tax as farmers travelled to Westminster to campaign against the move.

Asked if she wanted to apologise to farmers, she told Times Radio: ‘I fully understand the strength of feeling that the farming community have and, of course, they have the right to come and protest and lobby Parliament, as we’re seeing happening already this morning.

‘But the Labour government, when it came in in July, was having to face some very difficult decisions because of the economic mess that we inherited and the £22 billion black hole in the public finances.

‘So, difficult decisions have had to be made. So, I think that that is the backdrop to this.

‘I also want to recognise that there is money going into farming. There’s over £5 billion over the next two years that the Government is putting into farming and the number of farms that will be affected by the changes are relatively small.’

There are fears far-right groups could today hijak the farmers’ protest in London against Rachel Reeves’ ‘vindictive’ inheritance tax raid.

Thousands are set to descend on Westminster to vent their anger over what has been called the ‘family farm death tax’ introduced in last month’s Budget.

But far-right groups have taken the opportunity to use social media to urge their ‘patriots’ to turn up.

Far-right YouTuber Paul Thorpe urged in a video for his followers to join the protest saying: ‘I’ll be there to support our farming community and I hope as many of you patriots will be there too.’

While former British National Party leader Nick Griffin has piggybacked on Jeremy Clarkson’s comments in which he accused the Labour Government of wanting to ‘ethnically cleanse’ the countryside in order to build ‘new immigrant towns’ over farmland.

• Read the full story by Matt Strudwick here

In March this year, more than 100 tractors rolled past Parliament as farmers protested over what they complained was a lack of support for food production in the UK.

Organised by Save British Farming and Fairness for Farmers of Kent, demonstrators claimed cheap food imports and unsupportive policies put forward by the then Conservative government had placed food security at risk.

Tractors flying Union flags were driven across the capital carrying signs with slogans such as ‘Save British farming’ and ‘No farming, no food, no future’.

The action took place after demonstrations across Europe where protests were held against European Union regulations and cheap imports.

An outraged farmer posted a video to explain why farmers are livid with changes to inheritance tax.

In a message aimed directly at Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Olly Harrison tells her, ‘You’ve just took 20pc of our shop floor, our fields, our soil, what we grow food in.

‘Farmers are so angry because when 20pc of your tools are being taken away it makes the business unsustainable.

Keir Starmer has refused to be drawn on whether farmers had been betrayed in the Labour budget when asked about the new tax on the way to the G20 summit in Brazil.

Speaking to reporters on the plane, Sir Keir said ‘it is very important that we support farmers’ but added:

Obviously, there’s an issue around inheritance tax and I do understand the concern.

But for a typical case, which is parents with a farm they want to pass on to one of their children, by the time you’ve taken into account not only the exemption for the farm property itself, but also the exemption for spouse to spouse, then parent to child, it’s £3 million before any inheritance tax will be payable.

That’s why I am absolutely confident the vast majority of farms and farmers will not be affected by this.

The Prime Minister also highlighted what he couched as wider support for farmers in Labour’s plans.

We’ve put £5bn in the Budget for the next two years into farming. That is not to be overlooked. That is the single biggest sum of money in a Budget over a two-year period that has ever been put down in relation to farming.

On top of that, there’s £50m in relation to flooding, which is hugely important and £200m in relation to the outbreak of disease and infection which can be absolutely devastating.

Ministers are desperately drawing up contingency plans to tackle food shortages if farmers strike over inheritance tax changes.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said the Government would ensure food security if it faces militant action over the plans.

Some farmers have warned that they could stop production which could empty supermarket shelves and prompt panic buying.

Asked about contingency plans for food security if farmers strike, Ms Haigh told Sky’s Trevor Phillips:

The Department for Environment and Food and Rural Affairs will be setting out plans for the winter and… setting out contingency plans and ensuring that food security is treated as the priority it deserves to be.’

She said that although the Government recognised the ‘difficult situation’ that many were in, the IHT changes were ‘fair and proportionate’.

• Read the full story by Daily Mail reporters Claire Ellicott and James Tozer here

Farmers have been left ‘betrayed’ by Labour’s inheritance tax raid and Rachel Reeves has ‘ripped the rug out’ from the industry, a union boss claimed on Sunday.

Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), blasted the Chancellor’s Budget measures ahead of planned protests today.

Speaking to Sky News, he said:

I think the industry is feeling betrayed, feeling angry. We have a Government saying food security is a critical part of national security.

Yet they’ve ripped the rug out from that very industry which is going to invest in food security for the future.

But the NFU president said he did not ‘for one moment condone’ withholding food from supermarkets in protest.

That is not an NFU tactic, we do not support emptying supermarket shelves. But I do completely understand the strength of feeling that there is amongst farmers, they feel helpless today, and they’re trying to think of what can they do to try and demonstrate what this means to them.

So look, I understand their strength of feeling, but we are not supporting that action.

• Read the full story by our political correspondent Greg Heffer here

Keir Starmer’s inheritance tax raid on farmers ‘smells of incompetence’ and is hammering the party’s support in rural areas, a Labour peer has warned.

Baroness Mallalieu, who is also president of the Countryside Alliance and a part-time farmer in Somerset, likened the row to Tony Blair’s decision to ban fox hunting, which she also opposed.

The barrister, 78, lashed out at the decision to make wealthy farmers pay IHT on the agricultural value of their land for the first time – albeit at a discounted rate.

Ahead of a major protest by farmers planned for Westminster, the peer told the BBC’s Westminster Hour that ‘the majority of the Cabinet’ had become ‘urban’.

‘On the train to Taunton the other day I’ve had people saying to me, and indeed one of my own relatives, ”I wish I hadn’t done it, I wish I hadn’t voted Labour”.

• Read the full story by our deputy political editor David Wilcock here

Sir Keir Starmer was branded ‘cowardly’ as he dodged scores of farmers protesting in drizzle and cold outside a venue for a a Welsh Labour conference about his Government’s Budget.

The Prime Minister told the Welsh Labour conference at Llandudno’s Venue Cymru he would defend the Budget ‘all day long’ as farmers protested against inheritance tax changes.

In his first address as Prime Minister to the conference this morning, Sir Keir praised the election of 27 MPs in July, making Wales a ‘Tory-free zone’.

As he spoke, farmers unhappy with the changes to inheritance tax unveiled in Rachel Reeves’ first Budget gathered with tractors outside the conference venue in protest.

His convoy left the venue through a back gate, with a police escort, to boos from a small number of demonstrators.

• Read Robert Folker’s full story here and see below pictures of the protest in Llandudno

Farmers have reacted with anger and dismay over the inheritance tax changes for farming businesses, which limit the 100 per cent relief for farms to only the first £1million of combined agricultural and business property.

For anything above that, landowners will pay a 20 per cent tax rate, rather than the standard 40 per cent rate of inheritance tax (IHT) applied to other land and property.

Rural Labour MPs have suggested the level of anger is lower than claimed.

Several told MailOnline that all the farmers who contacted them about the change had subsequently discovered they were not liable to pay IHT.

Treasury data shows that around three-quarters of farmers will pay nothing in inheritance tax as a result of the controversial changes.

However, others have challenged the figures, pointing instead to data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which suggests 66 per cent of farm businesses are worth more than the £1 million threshold at which inheritance tax will now need to be paid.

Jeremy Clarkson accused Labour of wanting to ‘ethnically cleanse’ the countryside in order to build ‘new immigrant towns’ over farmland.

The former Top Gear presenter, 64, made the accusation in a furious no-holds-barred rant at Rachel Reeves over the Chancellor’s inheritance tax raid.

Clarkson says the Budget makes farming ‘nigh on impossible’ and believes it’s part of a ‘sinister plan’ to ‘carpet bomb our farmland’.

He has vowed he will be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with farmers when they take to the streets of London on November 19 for a ‘we only want to feed you’ protest march.

Writing in The Sun earlier this month, he said it will be ok for the Labour Party as they will be ‘living on a diet of quinoa’, as he added: ‘I’m becoming more and more convinced that Starmer and Reeves have a sinister plan. They want to carpet bomb our farmland with new towns for immigrants and net zero windfarms.

‘But before they can do that, they have to ethnically cleanse the countryside of farmers.’

• Read the full story by Matt Strudwick here

Farmers gathering for today’s mass protest in London warned that ‘things will get bad very fast’ if the government refuses to scrap plans for inheritance tax on farms.

Thousands are set to descend on Westminster to vent their anger over what has been called the ‘family farm death tax’ introduced in last month’s Budget.

Fuming Clarkson, 64, is currently recovering from a life-saving heart operation and was ordered not to go on the march by his doctors and to ‘avoid stress’.

Despite this he – joined by co-star Kaleb Cooper – will lead ‘two coaches of farmers’ from Diddly Squat to demonstrate on the ‘hugely important issue’.

Farmers across the country are uniting in action against the Government to try and overturn the so-called ‘Family Farm Tax’ introduced by Labour.

Two events are taking place in the capital today, a mass lobbying event organised by the National Farmers Union and a rally spearheaded by independent farmers.

Farmers belonging to the NFU and those that aren’t members are backing both events and say they are working in co-ordination with one another.

Here’s two farmers explaining why they have joined forces today:

The National Farmers Union is hosting a ‘mass lobbying event’ with MPs in response to Rachel Reeves revoking farmland’s exemption from inheritance tax (IHT).

From April 2026, it will be levied at an effective rate of 20 per cent on the value of business and agricultural assets over £1million in a shake up of Agricultural Property Relief (APR).

The move has sparked fury and warnings that it could kill off family farms, damage food security and set back environmental protection work.

Farmers had threatened to attend today’s demo with their tractors and other large machinery, which could grind the capital to a halt.

But the Chancellor and No10 have defended the change, saying little more than a quarter of farms will be affected, and even then they will pay at half the regular 40 per cent IHT rate.

Farmers last demonstrated in London in March over food security fears.

Hello and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage as farmers march to Westminster to protest against tax changes introduced by Labour in Rachel Reeves’ first Budget as Chancellor.

Early estimates suggest between 10,000 and 40,000 could descend on the capital today amid growing anger across the countryside with farmers claiming they have been ‘betrayed’ by Sir Keir Starmer.

It comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves introduced IHT on all previously exempt farms worth over £1m, at a rate of 20 per cent, in her autumn Budget.

Farmers fear the change will prevent them passing their assets down through the generations as they will be forced to sell off parts of their businesses to pay the punishing death duties.

Jeremy Clarkson is expected to feature at some point as farmers meet MPs in a ‘mass lobbying event’ organised by the National Farmers’ Union before a wider street protest.

Stick with us as we bring you the latest developments throughout the day plus the most striking pictures, video and social media reaction.