Farmers face arrest if they block roads with tractors at protest

Farmers planning a mass protest over the Chancellor’s inheritance tax raid protesters could face arrest if they use vehicles to block roads in central London next Tuesday.

Thousands are set to invade Westminster over the changes announced by Rachel Reeves in last month’s Budget, which prevent all farms from being passed on without inheritance tax.

From next year, farming assets worth more than £1 million will be liable for 20 per cent inheritance tax, fuelling warnings that many families will be forced to break up their land.

While the Treasury claimed the changes would only affect a small number of farms, analysis by the National Farmers’ Union suggested that three quarters of food produced by British farmers would be hit by the raid.

A protest has been organised to coincide with a mass lobby being held by the NFU, who will meet MPs to make the case for reversing the tax raid.

Police have said they are in discussions with organisers over the protests, but have warned those taking part that they have powers to prevent roads being blocked.

Those powers could include the Highways Act 1980, which makes it an offence for a person, without lawful authority, to wilfully obstruct a highway.

Organisers have urged supporters not to risk alienating the public by using disruptive tactics adopted by European farmers, such as barricading roads, burning tyres and blockading city centres.

Clive Bailye, the founder of The Farming Forum and one of the march’s organisers, told The Telegraph: “This is not about causing disruption. We don’t want trouble or blockades, especially given the family nature of the event.

“But if Tuesday doesn’t work the Government has picked a fight with the wrong people. If it comes to it, farmers can shut down every road and we don’t want to do that.”

Other planned rallies include a Back British Farming rally in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, on Tuesday, while on Saturday some farmers are planning to blockade the Welsh Labour Party conference in Llandudno using tractors and muck-spreaders.

Using private message networks, Enough Is Enough, a Welsh campaign group, has urged farmers to assemble outside the conference centre, telling supporters: “Our Government isn’t working or listening to you, please take this opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with us in Llandudno this Saturday.”

Gareth Wyn Jones, a TV farmer and campaigner in Wales, is among the group’s supporters. He and dozens of Welsh farmers are planning to take strike action by withholding food supplies from supermarkets in a week-long national stoppage.

‘Farmers are in despair’

In a statement, Enough is Enough said: “We simply cannot allow the destruction of our industry to continue and responsibility to feed our nation be taken away.

“This is a last resort but we as farmers are in despair as we simply cannot afford to provide food to the public.”

On Wednesday, Mr Wyn Jones challenged Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, on BBC Politics Live over the inheritance tax changes.

He told her: “This is going to be the last nail in the agricultural coffin. My family’s been on this land for 375 years. I want to pass this down to my boys... you’re taking that away from me... shame on you.”

Mr Jones is understood to be one of the activists behind Saturday’s planned blockade of the Welsh Labour Party conference and is expected to also be on Tuesday’s march in London.

Police have been warned against treating farmers in a harsher manner to their handling of pro-Palestinian or Just Stop Oil activists, who have repeatedly blockaded roads and targeted high-profile buildings.

Mike Neville, a retired Scotland Yard detective chief inspector, said: “The public do not want to see a contrast between the way the farmers are policed and the way more fashionable left-wing protesters are treated.

“They will not want to see farmers kettled while pro-Palestine activists are allowed to march freely and do what they want.”

Jeremy Clarkson, the Top Gear presenter turned farmer, who is expected to address protesters on Tuesday, suggested that some protesters were treated less harshly than others in an interview with The Sun last week.

“Perhaps if I had draped my tractor in a Palestinian flag, it would be different,” he said. “It seems that if you are from Just Stop Oil or protesting about Gaza, you can do what you want.”

The We Just Want To Feed You march will take place on Whitehall, opposite Downing Street, after organisers from The Farming Forum deemed Trafalgar Square too small to hold the expected 20,000 attendees.

Mr Bailye, an arable farmer from Staffordshire, said: “This will be the biggest protest by the rural community for decades. It will deliver a strong message in the heart of London that family farms and the rural community stand united against the Government’s catastrophic Budget.”

Children on toy tractors will lead a procession between Whitehall and Parliament Square, “signifying the impact of the devastating budget on the future of farming and the countryside”.

A Met Police spokesperson said: “The claim that the Met has banned tractors from this protest, or that we have requested organisers to ensure tractors are not driven into London, is not true.

Earlier this year we policed a protest in central London, involving a number of tractors, without incident. We have the required resources to do so again if required.

We have had positive discussions with the protest organisers who have confirmed their event will begin at Richmond Terrace, off Whitehall, at 11am on Tuesday. There will be speeches, before a procession to nearby Parliament Square.

We will have officers deployed in the vicinity to ensure the event takes place safely, lawfully and in a way that prevents serious disruption.”