Farmers in town tractor rally against tax reforms

A tractor rally has been held to protest the government's changes to inheritance tax.

Farmers and their vehicles gathered at Selby Livestock Auction Mart and paraded around the town as part of a nationwide day of action to show solidarity across the farming community.

Farmer Richard Bramley said the changes would have an "unprecedented impact on family farms" and the government "wasn't listening".

The government has said the reforms will make inheritance tax fairer, with only the wealthiest 500 estates paying more each year.

Organised by the National Farmers Union (NFU), the day of unity saw events to highlight the impact of reforms announced in the autumn budget.

The events took place after a petition signed by more than 270,000 people was given to Downing Street on Friday by the NFU.

Under reforms, from April 2026, inherited agricultural assets worth more than £1m, which were previously exempt, will be subject to 20% inheritance tax.

Mr Bramley, NFU regional environment lead for the North, described the tax reform as "life changing".

He said: "We're talking about farm businesses that have been going on for generations. They don't make the money to be able to afford the tax."

He said he feared the changes would impact the mental health of elderly farmers.

"They have to date, done everything right in the planning of the succession of their businesses.

"A lot of them rely on their businesses as part of their pension because a farmer will take what they need to live and put the rest back into the business.

"So the business is essentially their pension. They often live on the farm so it's their home. They don't have time to make change."

Sophie Bramley, a mixed farmer from South Duffield near Selby, said in order to pay the tax they would have to sell "a good proportion" of inherited farmland which would make the "farm inviable".

She explained: "There are three generations in our farm – my elderly father-in-law whose in his 90s has rightly set up his estate to go to his son, my husband, and that was the correct planning as far as we knew up until the shock of the October budget.

"The impact of that will be in all likelihood that we will have a huge tax bill to pay when the land is inherited and in order to service the tax bill, we don't have the profits to be able to do."

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Mrs Bramley has called for the government to U-turn and abolish the changes.

"We paid our taxes already and we continue to do so and it's going to crush us," she added.

"It will destroy our farm and similar sized farms to ours."

A government spokesperson said: "Our reform to Agricultural and Business Property Relief will mean estates will pay a reduced effective inheritance tax rate of 20%, rather than standard 40%, and payments can be spread over 10 years, interest-free.

"This is a fair and balanced approach, which fixes the public services we all rely on, affecting around 500 estates a year."

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