'Farmers who join London tax protest are there out of greed - they don't care about farming'

This week thousands of , squires and landowners will converge on London to protest against the

They are angry at having to pay tax if they pass on the family farm. While they are stomping around the capital I have an idea for them: they should take their placards and pitchforks to the HQ of the .

If they genuinely care about the future of farming they should be up in arms with the Tories for signing a trade deal with Australia that will undercut British farmers. The then government’s own assessment said the deal will cost the farming and fishing industries around £94million and the food industry around £225million.

READ MORE:

Even the former Environment Secretary George Eustice - a farmer to boot - admitted the agreement was “not actually a very good deal for the UK.” While they are outside Conservatives’ the demonstrators may also want to protest about the post-Brexit settlement which has seen farm subsidies cut by 22% on average.

And they may like to take Kemi Badenoch to task for pushing a trade deal with the United States that would allow the import of chlorine-soaked chickens and hormone-treated beef.

But the red-trouser sporting, tweed-jacket wearing brigade are not in London this Tuesday because they are worried about the future of farming, animal welfare and the environment. They are there out of greed.

By reforming inheritance tax rules for farmland Rachel Reeves has closed a loophole that should have been shut years ago. There is no reasonable explanation why someone who starts a business, creates jobs and benefits the local economy should pay tax when they pass it on but someone who buys land can pass it on tax free.

Under the Chancellor’s plans the changes will only apply to farms worth more than £1million (£3million if owned by a couple) and even then the tax will be charged at a reduced rate of 20%. Furthermore, the vast majority of farms will not be affected.

Treasury figures show that 1,730 farms were passed on in 2021-22 of which 1,264 were worth less than £1million. The people this policy is going to hit are wealthy landowners who often bought the property as a way of reducing their tax bill.

Jeremy Clarkson, the biggest cheerleader of this week’s protest, admitted that when he bought his £4.25million Diddly Squat farm that avoiding inheritance tax was the “critical thing.”

This is how we have ended up with a situation where 18% of the land in England is owned by corporations and a further 17% by oligarchs and bankers. If anything, the new tax rules may even help farming. It will mean fewer people buying up large swathes of land as a tax break - and inflating prices in the process - while making more farms available for those genuinely interested in farming.

Don’t be fooled by those leading the march on Tuesday. Their special pleading is a load of slurry.