Kent farmers protest Westminster

They joined thousands of others on the streets of Westminster to protest changes to inheritance tax.  Oliver Leader de Saxe reports.

Transcript

00:00It was always going to be controversial, but the government probably weren't expecting

00:06quite this level of backlash when they announced their budget.

00:11The damp and the cold that has soaked me to the bone has done nothing to dampen the anger

00:16of farmers from Kent and beyond that are swarming Parliament Square with anger and frustration

00:23at a budget that they say could kill their way of life.

00:27At the end of it, it's quite easy. At the end of the day, nobody's going to want to

00:30continue farming. We as smaller farmers cannot survive with that. Everybody thinks, or a

00:36majority of people may think that we're wealthy, that we're big landowners. We're not. I mean,

00:42the total land area that I own is 400 acres. The rest of it's rented. I don't have a succession

00:48plan for any of my children. They're all moving out of the industry.

00:51In 2026, inheritance tax will apply to farms worth more than £1m, the point at which

00:59agricultural property relief ceases to kick in. But farmers say that while they may be

01:05asset rich, that doesn't translate to real terms wealth and that this budget will now

01:11make it impossible to keep family farms going.

01:15We need to get them for a start to raise that threshold. £1m, all that protects is people

01:21from within places like London that come out to places where I live in Lincolnshire,

01:26buy a house, and they'll probably buy 20 acres, and that's £1m. And they're protecting the

01:32wrong people. They're not protecting family farms.

01:35If my son wants to go on farming, things have got to change because it'll rip a heart through

01:39the Garden of England, the landowners, and they won't be able to continue. And it will

01:44be a generational thing. But it's not just that. It's the whole budget. It's supposed

01:49to be an investment budget, and it's just crippling everything associated with this.

01:54By the time speeches started at 11.30, there were simply too many people to march to the

01:59Palace of Westminster as planned, though it did not deter the two largest opposition parties

02:05from lashing out at the government.

02:07You have had it hard, and this government doesn't seem to realise that.

02:11This policy is cruel, it is unfair, and it is going to destroy farming as we know it.

02:19But it was a certain TV personality-cum-farmer who got the biggest cheer of the demonstration.

02:26Now I know a lot of people all across the country in all walks of life took a bit of

02:31a kick on the shin with that budget. You lot got a knee in the nuts and a light hammer

02:38blow to the back of the head.

02:40In a joint statement, both the Chancellor and Environment Secretary said they are steadfast

02:46in their commitment to Britain's farming industry, and that the property relief will

02:52ensure wealthier estates pay their fair share.

02:55But with so much anger visible from rural communities like those in Kent, will the government

03:01be able to withstand mounting pressure?

03:04Oliver leads the sats for KMTV in Westminster.