Farmers are threatening to blockade supermarket depots every week unless Sir Keir Starmer agrees to scrap his inheritance tax raid plans. Entrances to Tesco distribution centres in Doncaster, Hinckley and Peterborough were blocked by tractors on Monday (January 12) as furious farmers warned the Prime Minister’s plans were “killing” off family farms.
The Government announced in December that it was raising the inheritance tax relief threshold for farmers from £1m to £2.5m in a climbdown after months of protests over the original plans unveiled in 2024. Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds last week insisted there was no more room for changes to the inheritance tax plans.
But farmers want ministers to go further and to give them better protection.
Ed Pritchard, 38, who organised the protest in Peterborough, said the action was aimed at getting the Government to “wake up and smell the roses”.
He told The Telegraph he was desperately trying to hang on for his family, adding: “I haven’t got time to lobby MPs, so we will carry on and might keep doing this once a week until spring drilling.”
Mr Pritchard urged the Prime Minister to stop and listen, warning: “Slowly but surely, you are killing us.”
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said in December that ministers had listened to the farming community’s concerns about the plans.
These had triggered protests with tractors outside Parliament and criticism from some Labour MPs in rural seats.
Baroness Minette Batters, the former head of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), had warned the proposals led to farmers contemplating suicide to avoid the tax changes.
Defra said last month that the higher threshold will take effect in April and allow spouses or civil partners to pass on up to £5m in qualifying agricultural or business assets between them before paying inheritance tax. This is on top of existing allowances.
Above that allowance, farmers will get 50% relief on qualifying assets and pay a reduced effective rate of up to 20%, rather than the standard 40%.
The number of estates facing higher inheritance tax will be reduced from around 2,000 under the original plans to up 1,100, hitting only the largest farms, according to Defra.
Farmers currently do not pay inheritance tax on agricultural and business assets which they pass on. Under Labour’s initial proposal, the full 100% relief was to be restricted to the first £1m of property.
The U-turn is one of several from the Prime Minister who has changed course on a number of policies in a bid to win back support for Labour, which has been suffering in the polls.