Farmers plan mass demo at Northern Farming Conference

Furious farmers are planning to stage a mass demonstration and strike action against the government’s “damaging” proposals to reform inheritance tax (IHT) rules, which they say would be “the final straw” for many active farms.

Organisers say hundreds of protesters – some in tractors – are planning to travel to the Northern Farming Conference in Hexham on Wednesday 6 November to voice their anger and frustrations over the plans, which they believe have not been properly thought out.

The peaceful demonstration is due to begin outside the venue, from 9am onwards.

The conference is being held at Hexham Auction Mart, in Northumberland, and is a joint venture between the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), the Soil Association, HSBC and others.

See also: Farmers threaten strike action over inheritance tax hike

It will be the first time Defra ministers have faced ordinary farmers since the Budget, and had an opportunity for debating the IHT changes and other policies announced by the chancellor last week.

Defra farming minister Daniel Zeichner and Jonathan Baker, the department’s head of programme policy engagement and strategy in its Future Farming and Countryside Programme (FFCP), are among those expected to attend.

Shadow Conservative farming minister Robbie Moore and Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat’s agriculture spokesperson, are also due to attend, depending on their parliamentary duties.

Mass gathering expected

Olly Harrison, a Merseyside arable farmer who is backing the demo, said: “The government says its inheritance tax reforms will not affect many farmers – in actual fact this will have an impact on every active farmer in the land.

“We don’t farm for the money. We do for our kids and if someone is going to take that off us, we’re not going to give up without a fight.”

However, Mr Harrison urged all protesting farmers not to “get carried away” or get themselves into trouble.

“If farmers want to take action such as this, we have got to be very careful not to lose the respect of the British public who are our customers. Some of this battle will be won on social media,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Harrison says some farmers are now refusing to take sewage sludge from water companies.

“Farmers have had enough excrement dumped on us and we don’t need any more,” he explained.

“It’s just another one of the many things that this government does not realise that farmers do for their voters, alongside feeding them and caring for the countryside.”

‘Key moment in farming’

Clive Bailye, an Staffordshire-based arable farmer, said: “The Northern Farming Conference is a great opportunity for the farming community to attend and demonstrate the level of feeling on this and how important it is to resolve this.

“This is a key moment the history of British farming and every stakeholder and everyone in the farming industry needs to work together and co-ordinate all our efforts to make sure we overturn this.”

He added: “These changes do not just affect farms, but will impact the entire countryside because of the new owners.

“The first victims of this will be the machinery dealers and shed-builders, as farmers will lock their cheque books away and lose their confidence to invest in such a marginal industry.

“Because the strength of feeling is so strong, I think we will see a lot of people turn up tomorrow.”