UK farmers protested outside Parliament over tax hikes
On November 19th, thousands of British farmers with banners, bullhorns, toy tractors and angry messages marched to Parliament to protest against the tax increase. They said it would deal a crushing blow to struggling family farms, The Associated Press reports.
“UK farmers are rarely as militant as their European neighbours, and Britain has not seen large-scale protests like those that have snarled cities in France and other European countries. Now, though, farmers say they will step up their action if the government doesn’t listen,” the publication reads.
The trigger was the government’s budget decision last month to abolish a tax break that had been in place since the 1990s and exempted agricultural property from inheritance tax. Since April 2026, farms worth over $1.3m will face a 20 percent tax when the owner dies and the property passes to a descendant.
Organisers urged protesters not to bring agricultural machinery into central London, although several tractors hung with signs reading ‘The Final Straw’ and ‘No Farmers, No Food’ drove past Downing Street.