Farmers descend on London to overturn inheritance tax change

British farmers massed in London on Tuesday for protests against controversial government plans to change inheritance tax rules for land ownership, calling on the government to overturn the plan.

Farming businesses previously qualified for 100-percent relief on inheritance tax on agricultural and business property, reducing the amounts that farmers and landowners pay when farmland is passed on after a death.

From April 6, 2026, however, total exemption from death duties will only apply to the first £1 million ($1.27 million) of combined agricultural and business property.

Furious backlash

The Labour government has faced a furious backlash from farmers since the change was announced by finance minister Rachel Reeves last month, with even tech billionaire Elon Musk wading in on the row.

Musk, who has been critical of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, on Monday claimed on his X social media platform that "Britain is going full Stalin", in an apparent reference to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's forced collectivization of privately owned farms.

He shared a Guardian newspaper comment piece that accused farmers of having "hoarded land for too long", and argued the inheritance tax change could break up farms and give younger farmers a chance to buy land.

The National Farmers Union (NFU), which represents more than 45,000 members in England and Wales, said its "mass lobby" of parliament will help explain the effects of the policy change on farms, farming and food supply.

It is expecting some 1,800 members to take part from 0900 GMT, with thousands more to turn up at a rally in nearby Whitehall.

"This awful family farm tax has to be overturned," NFU president Tom Bradshaw said in a video message to members.

"The evidence that this decision is based on is weak. Even the government can't agree between Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and Treasury whether the figures are accurate."

Central to the row is how many people could be affected.

How many will it affect?

Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday said "the vast majority of farms" will not be affected.

The government maintains the actual threshold before paying inheritance tax could be as much as £3 million ($3.8 million), once exemptions for each partner in a couple and for the farm property are taken into account.

The Treasury maintains that this means as such nearly three-quarters of farms would not be liable to pay death duties.

But the NFU insists that more farms could have to pay the tax when land, property and equipment are taken into account, pointing to Defra figures that show that 66 percent of farm businesses in England have a net value of more than £1 million.