North and north-east farmers have braved wintry weather to show their support for counterparts throughout the UK attending a mass lobby in London.
The industry is furious about tax changes announced in the recent Autumn Budget.
And it has some high-profile people on its side, with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and broadcaster-turned farmer Jeremy Clarkson both joining the throng in London.
Farmers in Orkney, unable to get to the capital, held their own rally at the mart in Kirkwall this morning.
Meanwhile, National Farmers’ Union (NFU) Scotland directors joined peers from England, Wales and Northern Ireland in London to make their feelings known to MPs.
Among them was NFU Scotland vice-president Andrew Connon, who farms at North Quilquox, near Ellon, Aberdeenshire.
The “massive engagement” by farmers in the capital “is just the start”, Mr Connon said.
He added: “The amount of people here highlights the sheer emotion in our industry.
“I’ve never seen the like of it before. People were out in force.
“We cannot give up on this.”
Mike Davis, of West Knockenbaird Farm, Insch, said the huge numbers attending the London rally helped raise the profile of farming.
He added: “Hopefully, more people will have a better understanding of the position we are in. The pressure we are exerting to get our concerns publicised and then going on a march is resulting on our message becoming better known.”
Russell Rennie, of Mains of Tillyangus in Clatt, near Huntly said it was an “amazing” turnout.
And he hoped the event will make politicians “stand up, take notice and listen for a change”.
Scott Campbell is the fourth generation of Campbells farming at Kirkton of Kinellar in Aberdeenshire.
Asked why he and the other north-east farmers were in London, Mr Campbell said: “To show our support for the whole industry and fight for our future.
“I’ve got two young children and want them to be the fifth generation of our family farm.
‘We are all here for the same reason’
“These new (tax) rules will lead us into disaster.
“Farmers don’t always agree with one another but we are all here for the same reason.”
Accompanying the north-east farmers for their trip to London were packs of haggis and Lorne sausage, generously donated by Alford butcher Graeme Barber, for a food bank.
The farmers’ message is unequivocal – they want the UK Government to scrap its “deeply damaging” taxation plans.
According to NFU Scotland, the financial and mental pressures the proposals are putting on family farm businesses is “immense”.
As well as 1,800 farmers participating in the joint UK unions’ mass lobby of politicians, many thousands more took part in a rally and march outside Parliament.
London commuters looked on as scores of tractors drove through the capital.
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NFU Scotland president Martin Kennedy said: “For a government to have stepped away from its claim that ‘food security is national security’ and targeted taxation changes at family farms in its first budget has left farming and crofting families deeply angry and frustrated.
“Inheritance tax reliefs give certainty to family farms that they will be able to keep the farm in the family and keep producing food for the nation.
‘Devastating effect’
“Without this, the family will often have little alternative but to sell the farm, or part of the farm, to pay taxes. The resulting break-up of many family farms will have a devastating effect on rural communities which have small family farms at their heart.”
Changes to inheritance tax will remove valuable reliefs for farmers.
Combined agricultural and business assets worth more than £1 million will be taxed at an effective rate of 20% from April 2026.
The Treasury has insisted the changes will affect only about one-quarter of UK farms.
But the NFU and others believe they will impact many more farms.
Mr Kennedy, speaking in London, said: ““With the spectre of an unrealistic inheritance liability on death, there would be little incentive for a small farm or crofting business owner to take the long-term outlook and to invest in the future of the business.
“These changes could also result in a contraction in farmland available to rent stifling the ambitions of the next generation of farmers.”
Farmers in London deliver ‘clear message’ calling for tax plan U-turn
He added: “We are here in numbers today to send a clear message to government that it must reverse this decision immediately and sit down with industry to properly consult.
“The impact on many Scottish family farms, already stretched to breaking point after a decade of tightening margins, input cost inflation and extreme weather events, could be the final straw for many.”
Clarkson says farmers ‘paralysed by a fog of despair’ over Budget measures
Addressing a large gathering in London, celebrity farmer Clarkson said: “For the sake of everybody here, and for all the farmers stuck at home paralysed by a fog of despair over what’s been foisted on them, I beg of the government to be big and accept this was rushed through.
“It wasn’t thought out and it was a mistake.”
Gordon and Buchan MP says tax changes an ‘existential threat’ to farming
More than 150 MPs at the mass lobby included Harriet Cross, Conservative member for Gordon and Buchan.
She said: “Labour’s family farm tax is an existential threat to agriculture.
“Most commercial farms are multigenerational, with little in the way of liquid assets and no hidden wealth.”
Moray sheep farmer and Highlands and Islands Tory MSP Tim Eagle said: “Passing on the family farm is not just a matter of inheritance.
“It ensures the survival of food security, local jobs and protects the rural way of life.”
Prime minister insists ‘vast majority’ of farms will not be affected
And speaking to the BBC in Brazil, where he is attending the G20 summit, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer again insisted the “vast majority” of farms will be “totally unaffected” by the changes to inheritance tax.
The PM added: “If you take a typical case, which is parents who want to pass on their farm to one of their children… by the time you’ve built in the other income tax thresholds, it’s only those with assets over £3m that would begin to pay inheritance tax.”
Information hub
NFU Scotland has created a Budget information “hub”, which can be found at nfus.org.uk/media/budget-information.aspx
Meanwhile the union is taking a coach load of north-east farmers down to Holyrood for another rally, focused on the upcoming Scottish budget, on Thursday November 28.
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