The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) are pushing for a large turnout at an event on Monday evening which is focussed on overturning planned changes to inheritance tax rules.

“It will be a very big ask, but as a minimum, the APR (agricultural property relief) threshold needs to be different,” said UFU president William Irvine.

“There is no cheap land in NI and, if you count livestock and machinery, you are at that £1m in the blink of an eye,” he told UFU members in Rathfriland on Monday.

Irvine said there needed to be a “massive crowd” at the upcoming rally in the Eikon Exhibition Centre on 18 November to “send a strong statement from NI”.

As part of the inheritance tax campaign, some UFU members have been calling for a more disruptive form of protest, such as blocking roads.

However, Irvine said farmers “need wider society on our side” for both the inheritance tax issue and for protecting the budget for agricultural support.

“Closing down Belfast will annoy people. Putting tractors on streets is not the look we want. All people who are not connected to farming see is the high value of those machines,” he said.

The UFU president is also urging people to sign an online petition to “overturn the family farm tax”.

Representatives from the UFU are to attend inheritance tax events in London on Tuesday 19 November, including a “mass lobby” event being organised by the National Farmers’ Union.

Figures disputed

At the crux of the inheritance tax debate is a dispute about how many farms will be impacted by the changes to APR.

UK government ministers continue to point to Treasury figures which suggest 73% of UK farms will fall under the £1m APR limit.

However, Irvine said that other government departments, including DAERA in NI, have produced figures which contradict the Treasury. “The four UK unions reckon that none of the figures are showing the real impact,” he said.