Thousands protest in London against inheritance tax on farms

(Photo: Pixabay)

Jeremy Clarkson, the former star presenter of the BBC television’s most successful, worldwide motoring program, Top Gear, was present, who has been working as a farmer for years and has also been making a documentary series about it, titled Clarkson’s Farm, which has been appearing in regular episodes for three years. The protest was organised by farmers’ associations because, according to the recently presented first budget of the Labour government, which took office after the general election in July, from the financial year starting in 2026, agricultural assets worth more than one million pounds (489 million forints) will have to pay inheritance tax equivalent to 20 percent of the part over one million pounds in the event of the owner’s death.

Agricultural entrepreneurs have been exempted from the obligation to pay inheritance tax for decades

Speaking at the demonstration, Tom Bradshaw, president of the British Farmers’ Union (NFU), said that the government had “stabbed farmers in the back and kicked them in the face at the same time” with the tax cuts. Bradshaw said the government had betrayed the farming sector, with Environment Secretary Steve Reed saying before the election that Labour had no plans to extend inheritance tax to farming.

There was also heated debate about how many private farming businesses would be affected by the tax changes

The government estimates that only 500 wealthy family farms will be required to pay inheritance tax each year, but the NFU estimates that this is a serious miscalculation, as the tax cuts could hit up to 70,000 farms. Before the demonstration, which ended on Tuesday evening, several local farming associations raised the possibility that if the government does not withdraw the measure, farmers could cause a national food shortage by withholding their produce.

MTI