A farmers’ rally has been organised in North Yorkshire for those who can’t make it to tomorrow's main protests in London.

Large demonstrations by farmers are expected in the capital tomorrow as they fight to reverse “absolutely unacceptable” changes to inheritance tax.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) is holding a mass lobby of MPs with 1,800 of its members – three times as many people as originally planned – to urge backbenchers to stand up to the Government’s plans to impose inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1m.

And thousands more are expected to join a separate rally in Whitehall as they protest against last month’s Budget, which also sped up the phase out of EU-era subsidies as funding is switched to nature-friendly farming schemes.

(Image: Jacob King/PA Wire)

Celebrities including TV presenter and farmer Jeremy Clarkson – who told the Times in 2021 that avoiding inheritance tax was “critical” in his decision to buy land – are expected to join the rally.

A rally will also take place at the clock tower in Thirsk market place from 11am to 1pm tomorrow, Tuesday, November 19.

Dubbed the “Back British Farming Rally,” organisers Phil and Clare Wise say it is “for those who can’t make it to London but would like to come together to show their support for British farming”.

Tomorrow’s London protests will see a procession to Parliament Square spearheaded by children on toy tractors, while organisers have told those coming that they should not bring their farm machinery.

It is set to be the largest show of anger to date over the inheritance tax changes for farming businesses, which limit the 100 per cent relief for farms to only the first £1m of combined agricultural and business property.

For anything above that, landowners will pay a 20 per cent tax rate, rather than the standard 40 per cent rate of inheritance tax (IHT) applied to other land and property.

Ahead of the protests, Environment Secretary Steve Reed – who was meeting with NFU president Tom Bradshaw on Monday evening – defended the changes as “fair and balanced”, saying it would only affect 500 estates a year and small family farms would not be hit.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Reed said exemptions for agricultural land had led to wealthy individuals from non-farming backgrounds buying up land to avoid paying inheritance.

That had forced up rural land prices, “robbing young farmers of the dream of owning their own farm”.

And he said: “It’s become the most effective way for the super-rich to avoid paying their inheritance tax – and it’s costing other taxpayers a whopping £200m.”

Speaking to reporters on his way to the G20 summit in Brazil, Sir Keir Starmer said it was important to support farmers, pointing to £5bn over two years for farming in England, and said he was “absolutely confident the vast majority of farms and farmers will not be affected” by the tax changes. However Olly Harrison, one of the rally’s organisers, said of the Government: “They don’t know their own figures, they have not done any homework whatsoever.

“It’s embarrassing for them, how little research they’ve done on this before they brought it in.”

He warned the move could destroy UK food production, with family businesses in food processing and retailing, as well as farming, at risk from the changes.

He said the rally aimed to show “this is what we do, this is what we produce, this is whose future is being taken away”.