On Tuesday, I’ll be becoming a member of a Westminster protest for the primary time in my life. Sure, me—a person extra comfy behind a laptop computer than in entrance of a megaphone, who as soon as thought the peak of rural activism was separating the recycling accurately. However one thing has stirred me into motion: the plight of British farmers underneath proposed modifications to inheritance tax.
Now, I’m not a farmer. However for 5 years, I lived in Little Brington, a fantastic farming village in rural Northamptonshire. It was there that I actually grasped the essence of multi-generational farming. Households whose names have been etched on the identical fields for hundreds of years, their livelihoods tied to the land like historic roots. These households don’t simply work the land—they’re the land.
After I heard Rachel Reeves announce the proposed modifications to inheritance tax, my first response was disbelief. These insurance policies really feel like they’ve been dreamt up in some Whitehall echo chamber by individuals who assume milk comes from Tesco and wheat arrives pre-sliced. The brand new guidelines, which may drive households to promote elements of their land to pay inheritance tax, don’t simply threaten their livelihoods—they threaten their legacies, their histories, and, frankly, our meals safety.
Should you’ve ever watched Clarkson’s Farm, you’ll know what I’m speaking about. Jeremy Clarkson, that unlikely champion of agriculture, peeled again the pastoral curtain to disclose the grim economics of British farming. A farmer may personal 400 or 500 acres of land value £10,000 per acre, plus a farmhouse and a few battered equipment totalling one other couple of million. On paper, they’re millionaires. However in actuality? The common British farmer scrapes by on a revenue of round £75,000 in an excellent yr. Consider unhealthy climate, fluctuating market costs, and skyrocketing prices, and it’s simple to see how the stability sheet finally ends up trying like a punchline to a foul joke.
But underneath these proposed inheritance tax modifications, farmers are being handled like cash-rich oligarchs. Think about a household that’s spent generations stewarding 500 acres of farmland, solely to seek out that the tax invoice when the patriarch or matriarch dies forces them to dump giant chunks of their property. It’s not only a monetary blow—it’s an emotional and cultural gut-punch. And it’s taking place at a time after we ought to be doing every little thing in our energy to guard British farming.
As a result of let’s be clear: farming isn’t just about fields and tractors. It’s about feeding a nation. British farmers already face relentless competitors from low-cost imports and the looming uncertainty of commerce agreements. Add punitive inheritance taxes to the combo, and also you’re primarily dismantling an trade that’s already hanging by a thread.
Dwelling in Little Brington gave me a front-row seat to the quiet heroism of farming life. I bear in mind waking as much as the hum of tractors earlier than dawn, seeing sheep huddled in opposition to winter winds, and chatting with neighbours, who may inform you the precise day their grandfather purchased the land we have been standing on. Farming isn’t only a job—it’s an id, a legacy, a calling.
Nevertheless it’s additionally relentless, underpaid, and infrequently thankless. Watching Clarkson’s Farm drove residence the purpose that farming isn’t for the faint-hearted. It’s a high-risk, high-stress enterprise the place one unhealthy season can spell catastrophe. And but, these are the individuals who make sure that milk, meat, and veg find yourself on our plates. It’s a accountability they carry with dignity, whilst policymakers pile extra weight onto their already bowed shoulders.
This is the reason I’m standing with British farmers subsequent Tuesday. I’ll be there in my decidedly non-rural coat, in all probability clutching a thermos of espresso and questioning how precisely to chant with out feeling like an fool. However I’ll even be there as a result of this isn’t only a struggle for farmers—it’s a struggle for all of us. A struggle for the landscapes we love, the meals we depend on, and the communities that make Britain what it’s.
The proposed inheritance tax modifications aren’t simply unhealthy coverage—they’re a betrayal of the individuals who preserve this nation fed. We’re speaking about households who work seven days per week, one year a yr, in situations most of us wouldn’t final a day in. And but they’re anticipated to swallow the concept that the federal government can swoop in and take a large chunk of their property just because they’ve had the audacity to die.
This isn’t about particular therapy for farmers—it’s about equity. It’s about recognising that farming will not be like different companies. You possibly can’t liquidate a number of hundred acres with out basically destroying the operation. You possibly can’t put a price ticket on centuries of heritage. And also you actually can’t exchange British farmers with faceless conglomerates and count on the identical care and dedication to the land.
Ex-Labour adviser John McTernan has prompt that what Starmer is doing to farms is ‘what Thatcher did to coal mines’.
So, sure, I’ll be at Westminster. And I gained’t simply be protesting the tax modifications—I’ll be standing up for the farmers of Little Brington and all over the place else. For the individuals who rise earlier than daybreak to are likely to their herds, who battle via rain and snow to reap their crops, who stay and breathe the land in a means most of us won’t ever perceive.
This isn’t simply their struggle—it’s ours too. As a result of when the farms are gone, we’ll realise too late what we’ve misplaced. And I, for one, refuse to let that occur with no struggle.
Should you’d like to affix the protest on Tuesday nineteenth November the organisers are asking individuals who plan to take care of register on-line first to allow them to work with the Metropolitan Police on managing numbers and in addition talk maps and itineraries.
Richard Alvin
Richard Alvin is a serial entrepreneur, a former advisor to the UK Authorities about small enterprise and an Honorary Instructing Fellow on Enterprise at Lancaster College.
A winner of the London Chamber of Commerce Enterprise Individual of the yr and Freeman of the Metropolis of London for his companies to enterprise and charity. Richard can also be Group MD of Capital Enterprise Media and SME enterprise analysis firm Traits Analysis, thought to be one of many UK’s main consultants within the SME sector and an energetic angel investor and advisor to new begin firms.
Richard can also be the host of Save Our Enterprise the U.S. primarily based enterprise recommendation tv present.
