Protesting farmers warn of 'ticking time bomb'

Farmers from across the South East warned of a "ticking time bomb" as they joined a major protest outside Parliament over changes to inheritance tax.

The National Farmers' Union gathered 1,800 of its members in London for a mass lobby of MPs, while more than 10,000 people were expected at a rally in Whitehall.

From April 2026, inherited agricultural assets worth more than £1m, which were previously exempt, will be liable to the tax at 20%, half the usual rate.

The government said the vast majority of farms will not be impacted.

Paula Matthews, who is a tenant farmer near Dorking, told Radio Surrey: "We haven't got land that - in the generation - we could sell that land to pay an enormous inheritance tax.

"We think that the Treasury have got their figures wrong. Defra's [Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] figures don't match the Treasury's.

"We think it's going to hit a lot more family farms across the country.

"We need to see a reversal of this inheritance tax."

Nellie Budd, whose husband is a fourth generation farmer in Brockham, said the impact on her family could be "quite scary".

"It would not make the farming business a viable business for us," she told Radio Surrey.

"We'd probably have to give up running the farm and go and look for a different job.

"I think they forget that we are the beating heart of the community, to the countryside."

Jessica Copper, a sheep farmer from High Halden in Kent, said the changes would be catastrophic for her family.

"If my parents pass away I'd have to sell the farm to pay the inheritance tax and that would take away from my children the lifestyle I enjoyed growing up," she said.

"We're not earning loads of money and having flashy cars. It literally goes back into the animals, back into the feed."

Third generation farmer Annie Brown, from Perching Manor Farm in Faulking, told Radio Sussex: "It's actually putting a ticking time bomb under farmers."

Tim Porter, a farmer from near Canterbury, told Radio Kent there was a "lack of understanding" about the value of farms.

"To maintain a business for younger generations is going to be very difficult having to pay this tax," he said.

Frank Langrish, whose family have farmed in the Rye area since 1912, told Radio Sussex: "There's no way in the world that we could continue to farm the same area of land.

"My son, who is in the business with me, would end up with an inheritance tax bill of probably over a million pounds.

"With farmers, we're asset rich and cash poor."

Rural affairs minister Daniel Zeichner urged farmers to "look calmly" at the government's plans.

He insisted that "the vast majority will be fine".

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