Farm union rules out disruptive tax protest

More disruptive forms of protest should not be used as part of the campaign against inheritance tax, the president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has said.

“I don’t believe we should be more militant. We cannot do anything which jeopardises public support. If we lose that public support then the government don’t have to listen to us,” said Tom Bradshaw.

At the NFU conference in London, Bradshaw said keeping the public on side and winning over more Labour MPs were “the only two ways” to force changes to new inheritance tax rules.

The NFU president said he did not expect Chancellor Rachel Reeves to amend the controversial changes to Agricultural Property Relief during her Spring Statement at the end of March.

“If they are going to change this policy, they are going to try and do it through an economic moment, so it is highly likely it is the Autumn Budget,” he said.

Until then, the NFU and other UK farming unions are planning to “do the hard yards of lobbying” as well as participate in protests, with a further demonstration taking place in London next week.

Older farmers

The difficult situation that older farmers have been placed in due to the planned changes to inheritance tax was highlighted numerous times at the NFU conference on Tuesday.

Several speakers on the platform and from the floor said the policy was harming the mental health of elderly farmers and may lead some to even contemplate suicide.

In his address, Bradshaw described the planned £1m limit on APR and Business Property Relief as “economically flawed” and “morally wrong”.

“Many older farmers are now facing that very real dilemma that unless they die before April 2026, their families will face a tax bill that they simply cannot afford. What a cruel position to put elderly people in,” he said.

During a question session, Oxfordshire farmer David Passmore told UK government minister Steve Reed that his 90-year-old mother was “now wishing her life away ahead of April next year”.

“Genuinely and truly, I am very, very sorry to hear that but is very difficult for me as Secretary of State to comment on individual circumstances,” Reed responded.

During his address to NFU members, the Labour MP was heckled several times and was interrupted at one stage by a group of farmer protestors.

“I am genuinely sorry about the shock that the decision created across the sector.

“It happened because we inherited a much tougher set of financial circumstances than we expected,” Minister Reed said.

There was combative mood at the NFU conference in London as the inheritance tax issue dominated discussions both on the stage and among delegates.

However, NFU president Tom Bradshaw appeared keen to offer the UK government an olive branch to help diffuse the inheritance tax situation.

He restated that the UK farming unions have proposed an alternative tax arrangement, where inheritance tax is only due on farmland if it is sold off after the previous owner dies.

“We will not stop. We will not give in. We will fight this family farm tax until ministers do the right thing, then we will move on,” he said.

In his closing remarks, Bradshaw acknowledged that the UK government had recently announced some policies that were positive for farming.

This includes guaranteeing the seasonal workers’ visa scheme for five years, a promise to uphold food standards in trade negotiations, and increasing agri environment payments for English upland farmers.

“The truth is, in peace time, there would be quite a lot to like. But when we are worried sick about our parents, worried about our businesses, and worried about our children’s future, it is very difficult to look on with any optimism,” Bradshaw said.

Despite regularly criticising the previous government’s trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand, the current UK government has no plans to review the deals.

“It takes years and years to negotiate trade deals, and you can’t just rip them up once they have been established,” said Environment Secretary Steve Reed.

“The kind of things that the previous government agreed to in trade deals, we have ruled out for any trade deals that we will be negotiating,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

With trade negotiations between the UK and USA coming back on the agenda in recent weeks, the Labour MP was keen to give reassurance to NFU members during his conference speech.

“We will never lower our food standards in trade agreements. We will promote robust standards nationally and internationally and will always consider whether overseas produce has an unfair advantage,” Reed said.