Live: Rachel Reeves raises taxes by £40 billion in Labour’s first Budget
Spectator (UK)Nov 02
UK: Over 10K Attend Farmers' Inheritance Tax Protest in London
Above: Demonstrators listen to speakers during a farmers' protest against inheritance tax rules for land ownership, outside of Downing Street, on Whitehall in central London on Nov. 19, 2024. Image copyright: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Contributor/Future Publishing via Getty Images
The Facts
Thousands have attended a march in London to protest the UK Government's recent policy announcement concerning inheritance tax for farmers.
Agricultural and business property inheritance tax relief will be capped at £1M (US$1.3M) starting from April 2026, with a value above the threshold taxed at 20%. The UK government has stated that, alongside other inheritance exemptions, a couple with farmland may apply to pass on up to £3M ($3.8M) tax-free.
The Spin
Left narrative
Labour's decision to finally implement an inheritance tax on farmers is the right decision. Data shows that only the wealthiest of farmers will be affected, and the new rate is only half of what the average member of the public must pay when facing the inheritance bill. Wealthy farmers are in uproar only because their tax loophole has been closed — more money must be raised to fix the UK's broken economy, and complaints from the farming industry should remain at the Tories for their crippling post-Brexit policies.
Right narrative
The UK Government's plan to raise the inheritance tax on farmers is a stab in the back to industry. Having described the policy as "desperate nonsense" before the General Election and now attempting to mislead the public with dodgy Treasury statistics, it's clear that there is nothing Labour won't do in pursuit of its socialist ideology. Farmers are the backbone of British society, and unless the government rightly backtracks on this policy, UK farms will fall like dominoes and unrest will only continue to grow.