Rural LabourMPs will be targeted in a fresh wave of protests next month over inheritance ‘tractor tax’ hike for farmers, it has emerged.
Critics of the move in Rachel Reeves’s budget in October have announced a national day of action organised by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU).
Demonstrations including tractor rallies are expected to take place on January 25 in communities away from Westminster, with roadside banners also being put up along main roads to catch MPs’ eyes as they travel over Christmas, The Times reported.
At the Budget chancellor Ms Reeves ended inheritance tax exemptions for farms worth more than £1m, although in some cases that threshold could be as high as £3m.
The tax change means previously exempt farms will be hit with a 20 per cent levy on farming assets worth more than £1m, with critics saying it will force family farmers to sell up and rip the heart out of Britain’s countryside.
The move has led to mass protests from farmers who claim the death dues could force them to sell off land which could have been in a family for generations.
And NFU president Tom Bradshaw said farmers would not give up in the fight against the “destructive” policy.
Announcing the latest wave of protests, he said: “There is too much at risk: our families, our future, our heritage and the undermining of the very sector that produces a safe, secure supply of British food.
“This date will give everyone that wants to an opportunity to support family farms from right across the UK, to show unity and strength and for farmers and growers to speak as one in our call for government to stop the family farm tax.
“We are so grateful to members of the British public for their ongoing support on this issue. The 25th is not just a day for the farming community to show unity but anyone who believes Britain’s family farms, and the high-quality food they produce, deserve to be better valued and supported.”
The planned demonstrations will take place in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Ms Reeves has said the policy would stop the super rich buying up agricultural land to avoid inheritance tax, but asked about the changes by senior MPs on the Liaison Committee, Sir Keir said it “wasn’t aimed at a particular group of individuals”.
He added: “What we tried to do with the regime we put in place was to protect the family farm, putting in a high threshold for inheritance tax for farms, which means that if you take the figures on the estates for farms, the vast majority of them are unaffected by the changes we put in place.
“But we weren’t aiming at a particular group.”