Countryside descends on Westminster

Yesterday (Monday 10 February, 2025) saw Whitehall filled with hundreds of tractors, as huge crowds of farmers and their supporters flooded the streets of Westminster. It was the third time in recent months that the agricultural community turned out, en masse, to protest against Rachel Reeves’ controversial and unpopular family farm tax.

Just hours before MPs began their debate on a petition calling for the tax raid to be scrapped, placards were being brandished and banners unfurled. A large screen bore the slogan “Change your tune, Starmer”, with an image of the PM playing a flute; but the noise that accompanied it was not the dulcet tones of a flute. Instead, it was the chants of thousands of protesters, and the blasting chorus of hundreds of tractor horns.

One farmer from Leicestershire unveiled a display of his prize vintage tractor, wreathed with beets, broccoli and other fresh produce from his land. Among the vegetables, signs from the Countryside Alliance stating: “Fight the Tax – Save our Farms”. Across the road was a group of young children, carrying posters they had drawn up themselves, fighting for the future that the Government threatens to rob them off. Further down Whitehall were several tanks, their armoured plates clad with slogan-bearing banners and placards.

The methods of this myriad of protesters were varied and unique; but their voices and aims were united. Stop the tax. Save our farms.

As the afternoon progressed, a series of speakers began to take to the stage, but not before a musical performance. The loudspeakers blared out with the lashings of guitar. Above the chords, the singer rang out: “I want to be a farmer, just like my dad. But Keir Starmer, he wants to take my land”. The atmosphere was electric, the tension palpable.

The rain began to fall through the February fog, but the crowd was resolute. Farmers battle the elements daily. To them, the weather was practically tropical.

Tom Bradshaw, President of the NFU, was first to the stage. Directly opposite the entrance to Downing Street, he said the Government “don’t understand you, farming or farmers… The sense of betrayal in the industry is one which I’ve never known.”

 Welsh farmer, Gareth Wyn Jones, followed, blasting Starmer and Reeves. “We hunt, we shoot, we fish, we farm, we produce food.” “Let’s have some respect.” “They have forgotten what we do for them. Every single day. And we will not back down”.

While journalists struggled to wipe down their increasingly soaked gear, further voices spoke out against the family farm tax; voices of just a couple of the hundreds of thousands who will be affected. Farmers who were facing no option other than to sell up. Young farmers like Jessica Sharp, whose hopes and dreams to farm, like generations of her family before her, are being snatched away before her eyes. 

“I’ve always dreamed of studying agriculture, and taking over my family farm one day. Although now, I have to question this. 

“Four months ago, my career plan was to go to an agricultural college. Although now, due to the one hundred and one different ways the Government are screwing farmers over, I’ve had to change my path, at such a young age, to A-levels, due to the uncertainty that now lays in the future of farming”. 

The roars of applause that both punctuated and followed her heartfelt speech served as proof - these sentiments were ones felt across the board. 

This united outcry of the farming community was made all the clearer when Mo Metcalf-Fisher, Director of External Affairs for the Countryside Alliance, picked up the microphone.

“Do you think that Rachel Reeves is listening? Is Keir Starmer listening?”, he asked. “NO!”, were the loud cries in response. 

He reminded crowds of Keir Starmer’s promise to “roll up his sleeves and restore that bond of respect between politics and people”, lambasting the PM for throwing away the opportunity he once had to do so. 

Speaking to the army of farmers and farming supporters, he said:

“Thousands of you across the country have joined with other farmers to take part in peaceful demonstrations, and you’ve been greeted by crowds, people from all walks of life, standing together with you to cheer you on, in this, your hour of need.

 “I want to thank the public. Poll after poll shows that the public side with farmers in this fight, and not with the Government. They stand with their farmers, and they are going nowhere. And it isn’t just the public, or the countryside; it’s Labour’s own voters. And if they won’t listen to us, I hope they’ll listen to them. 

“This issue has united so many of us. We’ve had over 30 town halls in this country, representing millions of people, voting through motions to say “no” to the family farm tax. The Great British media, from left to right, have issued thousands of stories about the devastating impact that this tax is going to have on innocent farming families.

“Farmers did not ask for this fight, but they’re not going to back down. And despite all the warnings, be it from the media, the political opposition, or our community, they still won’t listen, even when they’re reminded about the importance of food security, and how this policy, this budget, undermines it. The most basic job of any government, in any country in the world, is to get that issue right. And this government, so far, are throwing that away. 

“Now is the time for the Government to listen, to get the NFU, the CLA, the Countryside Alliance, and all the other people and groups represented here, around the table to find a way out of the mess. No more puerile, petty politics. We need action and adults. 

"I don’t know how many more times we’re going to have to come to London. But I hope that whatever happens, you will stay, and stand by us, and stand by our farming community. Thank you so much, and keep fighting – Britain is with you.”

Yesterday’s march was a tour de force of those fighting back against the family farm tax. The vast crowds and fleet of tractors - a reminder that the waves of opposition to the Government’s plans are only going to swell further. 

With tractors being an increasingly common sight in Trafalgar Square, the Government would do well to recognise that this problem will not be going away, and that they must sit down at the table with the farmers. As long as this issue drags on, any discussion on the countryside will be poisoned by the family farm tax. If they wish to meet with anything but opposition to their plans, from an increasingly united rural front, a dialogue on the family farm tax must be opened.