Oxfordshire farmers have condemned changes to inheritance tax and joined protests at home and in London today.

A farmers’ rally in the capital has attracted support from an estimated 20,000 people, who joined the rally following a mass lobby of MPs by the National Farmer's Union (NFU).

The protests were sparked over Labour's decision to cap relief for inheritance tax at the first £1million for farms, reversing a policy designed to ease the financial burdens on family farmers. 

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Oxfordshire celebrity and farmer Jeremy Clarkson addressed the crowd in Whitehall, and former Witney MP Robert Courts was also in attendance.

Mr Clarkson led two coachloads of farmers to the rally from his Diddly Squat Farm in Chadlington. 

Mr Courts said: "Farmers are the very essence of rural life and economy, out in all weathers to provide us with food. 

"The Family Farm Tax is a disaster for rural communities and for the UK's food security." 

NFU President Tom Bradshaw described the tax as "abhorrent," and said: "We think it’s a very ill-considered policy.

“I don’t think they understand that family farms that are producing this country’s food are right in the eye of this storm.”

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Thousands more joined the rally on the streets following the lobby, including Oxfordshire conservative county councillor Liam Walker.

He said: "It really was a great honour to stand shoulder to shoulder with farmers from across the country today in London.

“Today we brought the countryside to the city and showed this government why they should U-turn on this ridiculous family farm tax policy.

"We owe it to this farming generation and the next to ensure there is a future of local farming in Oxfordshire and across the country."

More than 1,000 Oxfordshire constituents have also written to their MPs in the southeast to protest the “anti-rural” measures, to put pressure on the treasury to change course and put life back into the rural economy. 

The action comes after Labour’s first autumn Budget introduced a cap on agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR), meaning that farmers will only pay no inheritance tax on the first £1million of combined property.

After that, they will pay a reduced rate of 20 per cent (compared to the standard 40 per cent inheritance tax) which can be paid in instalments over 10 years, interest-free.

The relief was originally imposed in 1992, because farming is often not a lucrative business and keeping the farm within the family increases food security.

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Environment Secretary Steve Reed said the government has allocated sustainable investment and flooding relief funding to farmers, among other measures. 

He added: “All of that shows farmers that this is a government on their side and the changes to inheritance tax will affect only around 500 farms. The vast majority of farmers will pay nothing more.”

Mr Clarkson spoke to protesters on stage in Whitehall, saying: “For the sake of everybody here, and all the farmers stuck at home today paralysed by a fog of despair by what’s been foisted upon them, I beg the government to accept this was rushed through, wasn’t thought out, and was a mistake.”

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