Thousands of farmers set for 'tractor tax' protest

Thousands of farmers are set to descend on London on 19 November in protest against the government's extension of inheritance tax, after the Metropolitan Police gave the march the green light.

- MILLIE COOKE

There has been a growing backlash from the farming community following the decision to extend the duty to cover agricultural properties, with National Farmers’ Union (NFU) chief Tom Bradshaw warning that the government should be prepared for a “militant” response from farmers.

The demonstration has been organised alongside an NFU lobbying event on the same day, after the union told supporters to stay away from the city if they didn’t have a ticket saying it could not “take responsibility for people in the streets”.

Clive Bailye, the protest’s organiser and founder of The Farming Forum, said there were 2,000 registrations in the first two hours of the event being launched. The farmer said he could see the number of attendees “getting past 10,000”.

Mr Bailye, an arable farmer from Staffordshire, said: “They weren’t organising a rally. They weren’t organising a march-type event. It was becoming very obvious that farmers were desperate for somebody to take the lead and organise something else.”