Thousands offarmers British farmers gathered in central London on Tuesday to protest against a controversial farm inheritance tax announced by the Labour government. Braving the rain and even a few snowflakes, the demonstrators, some of whom arrived on tractors, gathered outside Downing Street to express their anger at the government’s plan, which they accuse of “treason”.

With the announcement of this tax “destroyed the contract” Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers Union (NFU), Britain’s main trade union, told Sky news. He added that the protests would “continue”. as long as necessary, stressing that Labour could not “announce a policy with such disastrous human consequences, and believe that we are going to remain silent.”.

In addition to this demonstration, a “massive lobbying” of MPs is also planned, according to the NFU, which represents more than 45,000 members in France. England and in Wales. Until now, British farms have benefited from an exemption from inheritance tax on their assets and property, a measure designed to facilitate the takeover of farms.

The Labour government announced on October 30, when presenting its first draft budget, that this exemption would no longer apply to holdings worth more than £1 million (€1.20 million) from April 2026. Such holdings will now be subject to a tax rate of 20%, i.e. half the usual inheritance tax rate.

Battle of the numbers

The Prime Minister Keir Starmer assured us on Monday that he understood “concerns” of farmers, but reaffirmed that “the vast majority of farms” would not be affected. He pointed out that the actual threshold at which inheritance tax would be paid could be as high as £3 million (€3.6 million), due to the allowances available if a couple wished to pass on their farm to a child. Keir Starmer also pointed out that £5 billion (€6 billion) of the budget was earmarked for agriculture over the next two years.

According to Treasury figures, three-quarters of farmers will escape the tax. But farmers are relying on figures from the Department for Rural Affairs, according to which 66% of agricultural businesses are worth more than £1 million. “We have a huge distrust of these figures, which the Department and the Treasury can’t even agree on.”said Tom Bradshaw on Tuesday. “Our own data suggests that 75% of commercial farms, the ones that produce this country’s food, will be in the eye of the storm.”he said on Sky News.

Since the Brexit, British farmers have suffered from labor shortages and a funding shortfall, no longer benefiting from European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funds. Billionaire Elon Muskowner of X, also got involved in the affair, arguing that “Britain is becoming completely Stalinist”.in allusion to Joseph Stalin’s forced collectivization of farms in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. He was commenting on an article published in the Guardian, according to which the tax could lead large landowners to sell some of their land, thus enabling young farmers to acquire land.