NFU warns farmers will get militant over 'tractor tax'

Ministers have been warned that they face a militant” backlash from farmers over the so-called tractor tax of imposing inheritance death duties on family farms worth more than 1m.

- DAVID MADDOX

The warning came from National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president Tom Bradshaw as he met with environment secretary Steve Reed over the shock measure in the Budget, while a protest has been planned for 19 November when angry farmers are set to descend on London.

The row over inheritance tax changes came on top of a lack of extra funds for farming in Rachel Reeves’ announcements last week coupled with extra costs through increases in national insurance for employers and a 6.7 per cent rise in the minimum wage.

Mr Bradsaw said that the “tractor tax” raid through changing inheritance rules on farmland which had previously been exempt was “completely unfair”. He said he had never seen “the weight of support, the strength of feeling and anger” over the plans to impose inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1m, and added that many farmers wanted to be “militant” over the issue.