Farmers call Government reforms ‘load of rubbish’ as anger over tax persists

Farmers protesting outside the Oxford Farming Conference have called the Government’s newly-announced reforms to boost the sector’s profitability a “load of rubbish”.

During a speech inside the conference, Environment Secretary Steve Reed set out the Government’s “new deal for farmers”, which aims to support British produce and production, diversify incomes, ensure fair supply chains and protect farmers in future trade deals.

However, local farmers gathered outside in protest amid the ongoing backlash over measures in last year’s budget, including introducing inheritance tax for agricultural businesses worth more than £1 million and a faster phaseout of EU-era subsidies in favour of environmental payments.

Farmers held up signs reading “Fight the tax, save our farms” and “Stop the farm tax” while a host of tractors lined the streets, honking their horns continuously and playing “The Final Countdown”.

Julie Adams, an arable farmer near Bicester in Oxfordshire who joined the protest, called the Government’s new deal for farmers “a load of rubbish”.

“We’ve already done diversification. Most farmers have already diversified and we’re still struggling,” she said.

Ms Adams called for the inheritance tax threshold to go up from farms worth £1 million to £10 million before adding that until the Government budges on revisiting the current policy, farmers will “just carry on protesting”.

“We haven’t even begun yet. There’s going to be more. We’re going to ramp up the pressure and continue to protest,” she said.

Olli Fletcher, a 23-year-old from near Lutterworth in Leicestershire, said his father quit dairy farming in 2018 after being “crushed by Brexit”.

Speaking about the new policy measures announced on Thursday, he told the PA news agency: “I’m very sceptical.

“From what I understand it’s not going to be anything particularly substantive even if some of the aims within it are agreeable,” he added.

Asked about what the Environment Secretary could do to reset relations, he said: “I think it’s too late, honestly.

“I can’t see there is anything Steve Reed can do overcome the anger this industry feels towards him. It’s not just about the inheritance tax, there’s a whole host of things going on. The inheritance tax has united us, it’s the flashpoint.”

Heidi and Jonathan Smith, farmers from Oxfordshire who hope to hand their farm down to their children, also dismissed the “new deal” announcements as they joined the protest outside the conference.

Speaking to the PA news agency, Mrs Smith said the only topic of discussion they want to see on the table is “inheritance tax”.

“They need to listen and they actually need to look at the figures properly and realise that it’s an industry that doesn’t make a lot of income on their assets,” she said, adding that the proposed changes will make farming unviable for the next generation.

On her children inheriting their farm, she said: “At the moment they wouldn’t be able to afford the inheritance tax without selling a huge chunk of the farm and once you’ve sold that huge chunk of land, what are they going to make their income on. The threshold is ridiculous.”

Mr Smith added: “For commercial farms, we’ve got this climate emergency going on as well. We’ve had two of the worst years we’ve ever had in the last three years so it’s pretty grim out there. The idea of coming up with more money for inheritance cover is ridiculous.”

Mo Metcalf-Fisher, spokesman for the Countryside Alliance which organised the demonstration, also argued that Mr Reed’s bid to reset relations for the sector would not work, calling the changes to inheritance tax a “roadblock” to any other negotiations on policy for the countryside.

“It’s not and quite frankly most farmers… won’t be able to overlook the massive elephant in the room, which is the family farm tax and until Labour are serious about coming to an agreement about a way forward and rethinking this policy most people aren’t really willing to listen to any other plans they have for the countryside,” he said.

“A pre-rehearsed speech that barely touches on inheritance tax is not going to be enough to calm us down.”

Speaking to reporters inside, National Farmers’ Union president Tom Bradshaw warned of further protests as he called on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves to revisit and consult on the inheritance tax changes.

“They seem to think that we will go quietly,” he said, adding that more farmer protests are planned in the coming weeks.

“You can hear outside the farmers have come out to protest today and to make sure the farmers voices are heard and they are going to continue until the Government recognises they’ve got this wrong.”