LONDON (AP) 鈥� With banners, bullhorns, toy tractors and an angry message, on Tuesday to protest a tax hike they say will deal a 鈥渉ammer blow鈥� to struggling family farms.
U.K. farmers are rarely as and Britain has not seen large-scale protests like those that have snarled cities in France and . Now, though, farmers say they will step up their action if the government doesn鈥檛 listen.
The flashpoint is the government鈥檚 decision in its budget last month to that exempts agricultural property from inheritance tax. From April 2026, farms worth more than 1 million pounds ($1.3 million) face a 20% tax when the owner dies and they are passed on to the next generation.
鈥淓veryone鈥檚 mad,鈥� said Olly Harrison, co-organizer of a protest that flooded the streets around Downing Street office with angry farmers. He said many 鈥渨ant to take to the streets and block roads and go full French.鈥�
Organizers urged protesters not to bring farm machinery into central London, though a handful of tractors drove past Downing Street festooned with signs saying 鈥渢he final straw鈥� and 鈥渘o farmers, no food.鈥�
They were cheered by a tightly packed crowd estimated by police at 10,000, many dressed for a wet, chilly day in in the unofficial countryside uniform of olive-green Barbour jackets. Some held signs proclaiming 鈥淪tand with a farmer, not Starmer.鈥�
Children on toy tractors looped round Parliament Square after a rally addressed by speakers including former 鈥淭op Gear鈥� TV host and celebrity farmer Jeremy Clarkson. Another 1,800 farmers were invited into Parliament for a 鈥渕ass lobby鈥� of lawmakers nearby organized by the National Farmers鈥� Union.
鈥淭he human impact of this policy is simply not acceptable, it鈥檚 wrong," NFU President Tom Bradshaw said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kicking the legs out from under British food security."
Volatile weather exacerbated by climate change, global instability and the upheaval caused by Britain鈥檚 2020 have all added to the burden on U.K. farmers. Many feel the Labour Party government鈥檚 tax change, part of an effort to raise billions of pounds to fund public services, is the last straw.
鈥淔our out of the last five years, we鈥檝e lost money,鈥� said Harrison, a fifth-generation farmer who grows cereal crops on his family farm near Liverpool in northwest England. 鈥淭he only thing that鈥檚 kept me going is doing it for my kids. And maybe a little bit of appreciation on the land allows you to keep borrowing, to keep going. But now that鈥檚 just disappeared overnight.鈥�
Starmer鈥檚 center-left government says the 鈥渧ast majority鈥� of farms -鈥� about 75% 鈥� will not have to pay inheritance tax, and various loopholes mean that a farming couple can pass on an estate worth up to 3 million pounds ($3.9 million) to their children tax-free. The 20% levy is half the 40% inheritance tax paid on other land and property in the U.K.
Supporters of the tax say it will recoup money from wealthy people who have bought up agricultural land as an investment, driving up the cost of farmland in the process.
鈥淚t鈥檚 become the most effective way for the super rich to avoid paying their inheritance tax,鈥� Environment Secretary Steve Reed wrote in the Daily Telegraph, adding that high land prices were 鈥渞obbing young farmers of the dream of owning their own farm.鈥�
But the famers鈥� union says more than 60% of working farms could face a tax hit. And while farms may be worth a lot on paper, profits are often small. Government figures show that income for most types of farms fell in the year to the end of February 2024, in some cases by more than 70%. Average farm income ranged from about 17,000 pounds ($21,000) for grazing livestock farms to 143,000 pounds ($180,000) for specialist poultry farms.
The last decade has been turbulent for British farmers. Many farmers backed Brexit as a chance to get out of the EU鈥檚 complex and much-criticized Common Agricultural Policy. Since then, the U.K. has brought in changes such as paying farmers to restore nature and promote biodiversity, as well as for producing food.
Some farmers have welcomed those moves, but many feel goodwill was squandered through bureaucratic bungling 鈥� by previous Conservative governments as well as Starmer's Labour administration 鈥� alongside a failure of subsidies to keep up with inflation and new trade deals with countries including Australia and New Zealand that have opened the door to cheap imports.
National Farmers鈥� Union Deputy President David Exwood said the government has 鈥渃ompletely blown their trust with the industry.鈥�
Starmer spokeswoman Camilla Marshall said the tax decision had been 鈥渄ifficult鈥� but was not being reconsidered.
Heidi Fermor, who helps run her family鈥檚 fruit, vegetable and arable farm in southeast England, said she was attending her first protest because government officials had 鈥渘o idea鈥� about the reality of farmers鈥� lives.
鈥淔arming is hard. We鈥檙e very privileged, we have a lovely life, but it鈥檚 hard," she said. "We want to farm for life, for future generations, not just for today.鈥�
She urged the government to 鈥渓isten. Meet the people who want to talk to you, and listen.鈥�
Jill Lawless, The Associated Press
