Tractor convoy as farmers protest over tax proposal

FARMERS united in a convoy through Newcastle yesterday calling on the Government to axe plans to introduce inheritance tax on farming land and businesses.

- DANIEL HALL

Chancellor Rachel Reeves' plans to introduce a 20% rate on agricultural land and businesses worth more than £1m have become a political flashpoint for a sector struggling with rising costs, tough market conditions and worsening climate impacts.

Farmers claim that the reintroduction of Inheritance Tax Relief (IHT) will have a crippling impact on farms whose landholdings make them "asset rich but cash poor," though the Government says that it will only affect around 500 estates each year.

Farmers from across the region gathered at Newburn Riverside Industrial Estate yesterday morning, where they heard speeches from shadow farming secretary Robbie Moore and farming YouTuber Olly Harrison. Around 100 tractors then travelled along Scotswood Road and past St James' Park, bringing traffic in the city to a crawl, in the first of many similar protests across the country before Wednesday's Budget.

More people supported the protest in the city centre, walking from Monument to St James' Park with flags.