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Headline: NFU chief hints farmers could take more extreme action if government ignores inheritance tax protest

Subheadline: More than 10,000 farmers descended on Westminster on Tuesday to urge the government to backtrack on the levy

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/farmer-protest-inheritance-tax-next-b2649749.html

The general secretary of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has hinted that more extreme action could be taken if the government does not backtrack on its plan to extend inheritance tax to agricultural properties, as around 13,000 people descended on Westminster to protest the levy.

Asked what he thinks farmers’ next steps will be, following Tuesday’s demonstration, Tom Bradshaw said: “I think you’ll have all seen the media reports about what farmers across the United Kingdom think they should be doing next.”

It comes as farmers have threatened the government with “militant action” over the policy, which they argue will cause food shortages and the breakup of family farms.

“The ball is in the government’s court. They have to be the ones that now decide how they react to this”, Mr Bradshaw told journalists at the NFU’s mass lobby event, which saw union members engage with around 150 members of parliament in an event held alongside the demonstration on Whitehall.

But Oliver Atkinson, a farmer from Hampshire who took part in the protest, suggested that even Mr Bradshaw would not go far enough to force the government’s hand on the issue.

Key developments:

• Farmers who ploughed through ‘no entry’ barriers to be reported
• Kemi Badenoch tells protesters she would reverse the policy
• Keir Starmer denies Labour is waging a class war, saying it ‘isn’t at all what we’re doing’
• Steve Reed doubles down on tax, suggesting protesting farmers are wrong about its implications

He told The Independent there is a feeling among the agricultural community that the NFU chief needs to take a tougher approach in his talks with ministers, and be more supportive of protests and demonstrations.

Mr Atkinson said he expects further local action to be taken following on from today’s protest if the government doesn’t backtrack.

Tuesday’s protest saw TV personality Jeremy Clarkson urge the government to back down over the policy, saying it is a “hammer blow to the back of the head” for the agricultural industry.

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Editor: even the stogy Jeremy Clarkson, who usually writes for The Times, is a partisan of the Farmers, as he plays one on television?

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