Thousands of British farmers protest against rising inheritance tax

This article was originally published in English

Thousands of British farmers gathered outside Parliament on Tuesday to protest against the government’s recent decision to increase inheritance tax.

This decision, announced in the government budget last month, would end a tax benefit dating back to the 1990s that exempts agricultural goods from tax.

From April 2026, farms worth more than £1 million (€1,197 million) will be subject to 20% inheritance tax.

British farmers saysuch a rise could be fatal to family farms already struggling with the impact of climate change, global instability and the upheaval caused by Brexit.

A difficult decade for British farmers

Protesters marched around Parliament Square after a rally at which speakers including TV presenter and celebrity farmer Jeremy Clarkson spoke.

Next to 1,800 farmers were also invited to Parliament for a “mass lobby” organized by the National Farmers Union (NFU).

“The human impact of this policy is simply unacceptable, it is a mistake”says Tom Bradshaw, president of the NFU. “It undermines British food security”.

The last decade has been turbulent for British farmers. Many of them have supported Brexit in order to exit the EU’s complex and much-criticized Common Agricultural Policy.

Since then, the UK has introduced changes such as paying farmers for restoring nature and promoting biodiversity, as well as for food production.

But many say they were disappointed by previous Conservative governments as well as Keir Starmer’s Labor administrationwhich they blame for bureaucratic delays, a lack of subsidies to keep up with inflation and new trade deals with countries like Australia and New Zealand that have opened the door to cheap imports.

A “difficult” decision for the British government

For many British farmers, this measurement is “the straw that breaks the camel’s back”.

“Four of the last five years we lost money”explains Mr. Harrison, a farmer who grows cereals near Liverpool, in the northwest of England. “If I continue, it’s for my children”.

Keir Starmer’s centre-left government says there “vast majority” of agricultural holdings – around 75% – will not have to pay inheritance tax and that various mechanisms will allow farmers to pass on assets worth up to £3 million (€3.591 million) to their children tax-free, under certain conditions.

This 20% tax is half of the 40% inheritance tax charged on other land and property in the UK.

Camilla Marshall, spokesperson for the British Prime Minister, says the decision on the tax was “difficult” but that the government was not considering scrapping it.

Supporters of this tax say it will recover money from wealthy individuals who purchased farmland as an investment and caused land prices to rise.