Farmers’ protest live: Hundreds of tractors block Westminster in London as Starmer faces inheritance tax grilling at PMQs

The number of farmers and tractors has grown near Westminster, with farmers at the forefront of the protest chanting “no farmers, no food”.

But there are no questions yet for Sir Keir Starmer on farming.

Welsh farmer and YouTuber Gareth Wyn Jones said a change to inheritance tax would destroy British farming.

“Many of these farms are not profitable as they are,” he said.

“I think we’re going to see bankruptcies and less food on the ground.”

This is the most demanding PMQ since Kemi Badenoch became Tory leader.

She still believes immigration is a good line to attack, but is hamstrung by the Tories’ failures to control legal or illegal migrants.

The reason this is now at the top of the agenda is that Keir Starmer’s “Plan for Change” last week did not prioritize the issue.

Additionally, his work as a lawyer and opposition shadow minister opposing controls on illegal migration and deportations continues to make it difficult for Starmer to defend his record.

In truth, the only person who might be quietly smiling in the Commons during these exchanges is Nigel Farage whose main focus is immigration.

The two main party leaders trashing each other’s reputations on the issue reinforce his claims that Labor and the Tories have failed the country.

Sir Keir Starmer opens Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday by “welcoming” the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

He tells the Commons: “Can I start by welcoming the fall of Assad? The people of Syria have suffered too long under his brutal regime.

“What comes next is far from certain. We have spoken with regional and global allies to ensure that it is a political solution that protects civilians and minorities and absolutely rejects terrorism and violence.”

To avoid being hit with the levy, a widely used tactic by people facing inheritance tax is to hand over assets seven years before death – but many family farms will not be able to do so as a result of the ‘gifts with reservation’ clause.

The clause means that if a farmer transfers their property but still benefits from it by living on the property or using the returns to fund their lifestyle, they will still be taxed on it.

However, wealthy investors who bought farmland are unlikely to live on the property, meaning they can transfer the property and benefit from the loophole.

I look at the hundreds of tractors now lined up in Whitehall from Great George Road, where Parliament sits, to Trafalgar Square.

Many fly British flags and display native signs. One reads: “We can live without politicians, but we cannot live without food.

The road is closed with police standing on both sides of the closure.

The atmosphere is friendly and many farmers bring their families to the protest.

Although the road is closed, people can still walk around the tractor. Many chat with farmers, along with dozens of journalists.

Organizer Liz Webster says farmers are protesting because after decades of government neglect, they say the latest budget is a disaster.

“This latest Budget really does represent the death knell for British farming as we know it,” she said.

Ms Webster expects more than 500 tractors to appear eventually.

In Parliament, where the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee sits, financial experts are explaining the effects of changes to inheritance tax, with farms paying 20 per cent on estates worth more than £1 million.

The fee could be paid over 10 years.

Speaking before the committee, Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser at the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers, the body representing rural valuers, told the Environment Committee on Tuesday that the strategies put forward by the Government for farmers to pay tax were “not realistic”.

“You have to have an adequate, sufficient number of willing, competent, able, interested family members if you want to try to follow some of the lines taken by ministers,” he said.

“And they have to be people who are going to be able to get along with each other, so some of the strategies that are outlined are just not realistic for a lot of people, because they don’t have more than one or two kids involved in the business.”

He added that their modeling shows that the cost of paying taxes over 10 years could be about three-quarters of an additional employee in the business.

“It’s a very significant shock to what the business can actually pay out of earnings, leaving little, if anything, left over for breakfast or for reinvestment,” he said.

As farmers voice their anger at changes to Inheritance Tax, we now hear that more councils have agreed to the proposals, putting on record their opposition to the plan announced in Rachel Reeves’ Budget.

North Northamptonshire, Devon, Harborough, Staffordshire Moorlands, Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire councils have backed farmers with the proposals.

Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Suffolk Council are due to hold a vote in the coming days.

Mo Metcalf-Fisher, director of external affairs for the Countryside Alliance, supports a “town hall rebellion”.

He said: “The number of councils standing with their farmers opposing this tax continues to grow and we thank them for recognizing the damage this proposal will have on family farms.

“If the Chancellor doesn’t listen and work with the farming community to review this policy, the battle with the countryside will simply become a long-term pain.” It’s not good for anyone and it’s a very bad look for the government.”

On the day of the protests, the government released a report on Wednesday analyzing the state of food safety in the UK.

It found that in 2023 the UK was 75 per cent self-sufficient in the food that can be grown in the country and produced the equivalent of 62 per cent of all food consumed.

The figures are largely unchanged over the past two decades, but the report also warns that the long-term decline in “natural capital” – resources such as clean water, healthy soil and wildlife – poses an urgent risk to UK food production.

The report also states that extreme weather conditions continue to have a significant impact on domestic production, particularly field crops, fruits and vegetables.

The UK remains “highly dependent” on imports to meet demand for fruit, vegetables and seafood, which are important sources of nutrients for consumers, and many of the countries from which these foods are imported face their own climate and sustainability challenges. risks, the report states.

All this comes as farmers claim that changes to inheritance tax, as announced in the Budget, will lead to farms producing less as land is sold off to pay the tax.

Bex Broad, a fourth-generation farmer from Sevenoaks, Kent, says she joined the protest with her family to urge the government to review its budget.

She said planned changes to inheritance tax were her biggest concern, with fears that farms would have to sell off land to afford it.

“We’re going to see businesses disappear overnight,” she said.

Ms Broad urged the public to support farmers by buying local.

“All we want to do is feed the public.”