Central London witnessed dramatic scenes yesterday as farmers from across the UK descended upon Westminster, defying a last-minute police ban on tractors to protest against Chancellor Rachel Reeves' controversial inheritance tax reforms. The Metropolitan Police confirmed two individuals were arrested for breaching protest conditions, with one tractor seized, as the demonstration against the ending of agricultural inheritance relief brought rush-hour traffic to a standstill.
Defiance in the Face of Police Restrictions
Organisers from Berkshire Farmers had planned what was intended to be one of the most striking rural demonstrations in years, with hundreds of tractors converging on Whitehall. However, at the eleventh hour, the Met Police imposed conditions prohibiting agricultural machinery from the area, stating it could result in serious disruption to the life of the community.
Despite these restrictions, dozens of tractors made their way to Parliament Square and Trafalgar Square in an act of defiance. Protesters repeatedly sounded tractor horns while police stood watching, creating gridlock during the evening commute. The gathering, which took place on Wednesday, 26 November, saw farmers from as far afield as Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Kent, and North Wales expressing their fury at what they describe as a tax raid that threatens family farming's very existence.
A Political Flashpoint Ignites
The protest has become a significant political flashpoint, with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage immediately declaring his support for the arrested farmers. The farmers' planned protest on Whitehall has been cancelled by the police at the last moment, Farage stated. They have come to London and are now being arrested. This is outrageous. Reform UK will provide full legal support to every farmer protesting peacefully.
Organiser Dan Willis from Berkshire Farmers expressed devastation at the police restrictions, telling Sky News: We had already got the word out to everybody, it was impossible. They were coming anyway. The Met, unfortunately, have scored an own goal here and created carnage. We know it's come from the government.
The Chancellor's plans to introduce a 20 per cent inheritance tax rate on agricultural land and businesses worth more than £1 million have sparked widespread anger in the farming community. The reforms are scheduled to come into effect next April, creating what farmers describe as an impossible financial burden that could force the sale of family farms.
Two-Tier Policing Accusations and Personal Tragedies
Many protesters accused the Metropolitan Police of two-tier policing, suggesting the last-minute ban was designed to spare the government embarrassment on budget day. Clive Bailye of The Farming Forum, who organised the first tractor protest against the inheritance tax changes last November, remarked: It does feel like two-tier policing. The feedback from the Met about our protest was that we were a pleasure to work with.
The human cost of the policy was starkly illustrated by Jonathan Charlesworth, a Yorkshire farmer whose 78-year-old father John took his own life the day before budget day last October, having read rumours about the planned tax changes. All previous farmer protests have been peaceful and well organised, Charlesworth said, questioning the police's rationale for the tractor ban.
Protest signs conveyed the depth of feeling among the agricultural community, with messages including No farms, no food, no future, Fools vote Labour, and Working people need aspiration not taxation. Former Big Brother contestant and farmer Cameron Kinch warned: It's going to potentially destroy British agriculture as we know it in this country.
Gareth Wyn Jones, a farmer from North Wales, highlighted the mental health crisis in farming, stating: We've already had people taking their own lives, mental health is at an all-time low. He added passionately: If we had a war or another pandemic, this country would go hungry very, very quickly. The more farmers that go out of business, the less chance we can be food secure.
The protest represents the latest escalation in tensions between the agricultural sector and the government over the inheritance tax reforms, following a similar demonstration last December that saw thousands gather along Whitehall. With Nigel Farage now pledging legal support for arrested farmers and accusations of political policing growing louder, this budget day confrontation looks set to develop into a prolonged political battle over the future of British farming.
