Video: Farmers urge chancellor to ‘Axe the Tax’

Around 100 tractors lined up in a Berkshire field to send the government a message visible from the air, as Conservatives and farming leaders called on the new chancellor to axe the family farm tax in his first Budget.

Farmers from Berkshire and Surrey gathered at Newbury on Tuesday 20 October to spell out “Axe the Tax” in tractors, with shadow Defra secretary Victoria Atkins and shadow farming minister Robbie Moore joining them.

Eleanor Gilbert, a young arable farmer also known as Berkshire Farm Girl on social media, recorded the formation by drone. In a post published on Facebook alongside her video, she said farmers were “fighting for their future”.

See also: Cameron and Blunkett unite in attack on family farm tax

Ms Atkins urged Labour to go further despite raising the relief threshold from £1m to £2.5m. “Our message to the government is the message of farming across the UK, which is to axe this vindictive death tax once and for all,” she said.

She argued that scrapping the tax would unlock investment. “We know that nine out of 10 farms have paused investment,” she said. She also warned of the knock-on effect on “rural high streets up and down the country”.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) backed that claim, citing a survey of 700 members in which 90% had paused or cancelled investment.

President Gavin Lane said chancellor John Healey had “a golden opportunity to reset the government’s relationship with rural and family businesses”.

NFU president Tom Bradshaw said the Budget was “the perfect platform” to restore confidence in farm businesses. “Taxing business assets as personal wealth is simply wrong,” he said.

‘Terrified about their futures’

George Brown, a Berkshire farmer and chairman of the British Farming Union, said farmers were “absolutely terrified about their futures”.

He pointed to a tough year of drought and the “catastrophic” SFI scheme, and warned of the incoming Cbam fertiliser tax would add to the cost of imported fertiliser.

In a message to prime minister Andy Burnham, he said: “You’ve got to take those warm words for farmers and put them into action.”

He noted that Labour peer Lord Blunkett had called the tax a mistake. “It was a ridiculous decision to introduce this tax in the first place,” Mr Brown said.

Christopher Marchment, who farms near Andover, Hampshire, said the higher threshold had not taken farmers “out of the danger zone”. He said he had stopped investing in machinery and was seeing others do the same.

“We have spent so much of the past two years at protests. People are at the end of their tether,” he said. “They have crucified our industry.”

Asked if the tax was hitting food security, he replied: “Yes, 100%.”

Shadow Defra team Robbie Moore MP and Victoria Atkins MP with farmers © MAG/Philip Case

‘A 60% tax’

Henry Graham, who runs a beef and arable farm on the outskirts of Newbury, said his farm makes about £10,000 profit a year. He calculated that paying the tax bill would mean selling land, then facing a further 40% charge on the proceeds.

“It’s not a 20% tax. It’s a 60% tax,” he said. “My house is linked to the farm. If that farm goes, I lose my house. I lose my job. I lose everything.”

He said his 300 head of cattle would be lost to the food chain.

Mo Metcalf-Fisher from the Countryside Alliance said rural anger had not faded, whatever Westminster believed.

He urged Defra ministers to visit farmers and said the prime minister should listen to Lord Blunkett and Labour MPs calling for a full repeal.

“None of this is his baggage,” he said of the new chancellor, “so it’s up to him now.”

© Elliot Wright

Government response

A UK government spokesperson said ministers had “listened to farmers” and raised the threshold to £2.5m “to protect small family farms and businesses, while ensuring the largest estates make a fair contribution”.

The spokesperson added that funding had been boosted by £65m to help farmers manage drought pressures.

About 85% of estates claiming agricultural property relief in 2026-27 are forecast to pay no extra inheritance tax, and no revenue has yet been received, the government said.