Organizers of the protest were forced to move tomorrow’s demonstration to Westminster because Trafalgar Square was not large enough to accommodate protesters. Number of people planning to attend, Independent It was announced last week.

The protest, which will take place on November 19, is expected to easily exceed the original number of 5,000 to 10,000 estimated by the organizer, the Agricultural Forum.

Those attending were asked to start gathering at Richmond Terrace next to Victoria Embankment Gardens from 11am.

Organizers say the march will be led by farm children on toy tractors “symbolising the impact of the devastating budget on the future of farming and the countryside”.

Sir Keir Starmer has doubled down on his claim that the “vast majority of farms and farmers” will not be affected by changes to inheritance tax announced in the Budget ahead of a major demonstration over the tax rise on Tuesday.

Asked whether he accepted that farmers felt betrayed, Sir Keir said: “I think it is very important that we support farmers. That’s why we allocated £5 billion to our budget for farming for the next two years.

“This should not be ignored,” he said, also pointing to other cash earmarked for floods and disease outbreaks. He added: “Clearly there is an issue with inheritance tax and I understand the concern.

“But in a typical example, namely if the parents have a farm that they want to pass on to one of their children, then not only will the exemption of the farm property be required, but also from the spouse first, then from the parent to the child, £3 million is required before any inheritance tax is due.

“So I’m absolutely confident that the vast majority of farms and farmers will not be affected by this.”

Our political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

Labor says three-quarters of properties will not be affected by the upcoming changes, but campaigners are addressing the situation. I am reporting my colleague Albert Toth.

Nearly 500 properties will be affected by the changes, with just the top 7 per cent of claims accounting for 40 per cent of the total value of the relief fund, according to Treasury analysis.

A statement from the department adds: “It is unfair that so few applicants each year are claiming such a significant amount of aid when this money could be better used to fund our public services.”

But the Country Land and Business Association said close to 70,000 farms would be affected. They add that the new measure would mean “harming family businesses and destabilizing food security.”

Economists say this figure is somewhat misleading. The 70,000 figure does not reflect how many estates will have to pay inheritance tax each year; rather it shows how many of them could be worth over £1 million today.

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), says: “The changes will affect a very small number of some of the most valuable farms.”

Campaigner and author Guy Shrubsole has highlighted the inequality of land ownership in England; 18 percent of the land belongs to companies and 17 percent to oligarchs and bankers.

He said data from the Department for the Environment showed that just 2,500 of the largest farms owned a quarter of England’s land area, with 59 per cent of farms under 50 hectares.

Mr Shrubsole said: “Small farmers deserve all our support – and they are not helped by giving tax breaks to wealthy investors who seize farmland as a handy tax shelter, inflating land prices and starving public services of cash.”

Ahead of the protests, Environment Minister Steve Reed defended the changes as “fair and balanced” and said the changes would only affect 500 properties a year and that small family farms would not be affected.

writing in Daily TelegraphMr Reed said exemptions for farmland had led wealthy individuals from non-farm backgrounds to buy land to avoid paying inheritances.

This raised rural land prices, “depriving young farmers of the dream of owning their own farms”.

He said: “This has become the most effective way for the super-rich to avoid paying inheritance tax, costing other taxpayers a whopping £200 million.”

From April 2026, landowners who inherit agricultural assets worth more than £1 million will have to pay inheritance tax (IHT) on them at a rate of 20 per cent. These assets were previously completely exempt from tax under the agricultural property allowance law.

Under the new rules, the 20 per cent tax, half the standard 40 per cent rate, will only be levied on assets above the £1 million threshold. Also, unlike regular IHT, the tax can be paid in interest-free installments over a ten-year period.

The exemption is offered alongside other IHT mitigation measures. If the value of the property transferred is less than £325,000 and £175,000 is added for a house under certain conditions, inheritance tax is not payable anyway.

For a farm owned by two people, this means that when combining the allowances of both people plus their receipt of £1 million of agricultural aid each, the actual tax-free amount transferred is £3 million.

colleague Albert Toth there are more details here:

Farmers fighting to reverse “completely unacceptable” changes to inheritance tax are expected to hold major demonstrations in London on Tuesday.

The National Farmers Union (NFU), with 1,800 members (three times more than originally planned), is organizing a mass lobby of MPs. 1 million.

Thousands more are expected to attend a separate rally in Whitehall to protest last month’s Budget, which also accelerated the phasing out of EU-era subsidies by shifting funds to green farming schemes.

Celebrities are expected to attend the rally, including TV presenter and farmer Jeremy Clarkson, who told the Times in 2021 that avoiding inheritance tax was “critical” in his decision to buy land.