Farmers are planning a mass protest in the centre of London, demonstrating against the Government’s inheritance tax hike.
The demonstration will happen on November 19 after the National Farmers’ Union (NFU)’s separate “mass lobby” planned for the same day was inundated with angry farmers wanting to express their views at the 600-seater Church House conference centre close to Parliament Square.
The Metropolitan Police has given the go-ahead for the rally in central London, and organisers want the farmers present to create the country’s biggest-ever food bank donation with UK-grown fruit and veg.
The NFU has had to triple its capacity at the event, but has pleaded with farmers who don’t have tickets not to turn up. “We can’t simply turn up in numbers in Westminster on the streets, or the open spaces,” the NFU said. “We cannot risk either member or public safety, or the loss of public support, that could come from what could be an illegal demonstration.”
The Times reported that Merseyside arable farmer and YouTuber Olly Harrison, who is organising the protest, said: “We didn’t particularly want to end up organising it but no one else was doing anything.
“What we don’t want is them in Wetherspoons bored. We also want to do the single-biggest food-bank donation ever, because we are food producers. We have just got to find a location with the Met that works for them and the city.
“If farmers are heading to London there will be somewhere for them to go now.”
Jeremy Clarkson, a champion of farmers’ issues on his hit Amazon show Clarkson’s Farm, has said he will be there. He told The Sun: “We wanted to protest in a dignified and sensible way, which was why I had booked the coach rather than causing disruption with tractors and farming vehicles”.
In the Chancellor’s maiden budget, she announced that, for the first time since the early 1990s, agricultural assets worth north of £1million will be hit with inheritance tax at 20 percent.
The Treasury insists that only a quarter of farms will reach that threshold but the NFU claims that Defra data shows as many as two-thirds of farms will be slapped with high tax bills. That, the union claims, may force family farms to be sold off or made unviable.
According to The Times, a Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said: “We are aware that there are a number of events being planned currently in relation to the recent budget announcements affecting farmers. The National Farmers’ Union have emphasised that their event at a conference centre in Westminster on November 19 will not be a protest. This is not on advice from the Metropolitan Police, and at no point have we banned anyone from marching on this date.
“We will work with any organisation or individual wishing to organise a peaceful protest or demonstration in London and continue to speak with the NFU. The Metropolitan Police Service applies the same legislative framework to each and every notification that we receive, without fear or favour, in order to deliver our core policing responsibilities. We aim to protect the public, prevent crime and disorder and minimise disruption to London’s communities.”
