A Bitter Harvest
Farmers’ Protests and the Exploitation of Rural Struggles
The Labour government’s 2024 Budget introduced sweeping changes to the UK’s inheritance tax (IHT) system, including a 20% levy on agricultural estates valued over £1 million, set to take effect in April 2026. This policy, aimed at addressing wealth inequality, has sparked outrage across the farming community. Large-scale protests in London have highlighted deep discontent among farmers, who fear the reforms will devastate family-run farms already struggling in the wake of Brexit and years of political indifference.
While the tax reform targets wealth hoarding, its potential to impact working farms is undeniable, fueling anger and frustration in rural Britain. Worse still, the protests have become a stage for cynical political exploitation, with figures like Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch seizing the moment to score points against Labour. Compounding this is the role of the right-wing media, which has weaponized the issue to escalate discontent, framing it not as a targeted policy but as an attack on all farmers. These developments have left Labour not only facing a policy crisis but a dangerous political perception problem—a critical error in an age where optics often outweigh substance.
Brexit’s Impact on UK Farming
To fully understand the scale of farmers' frustration, one must first examine the lasting impact Brexit has had on UK agriculture. Since leaving the European Union, farmers have endured significant challenges, including the loss of EU subsidies, trade barriers, and severe labor shortages. Once supported by the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), many farms now struggle without equivalent domestic support. The loss of frictionless trade with Europe has slashed profits for exports like lamb, beef, and dairy products (National Farmers' Union, 2023).
The damage to UK farming was not an unknown quantity. Prior to the referendum, countless reports predicted that Brexit would wreak havoc on agriculture, warning of trade barriers, subsidy loss, and labor shortages. Yet Brexiteers dismissed these concerns as "Project Fear," promising instead that "sunlit uplands" awaited Britain outside the EU. The reality has been far bleaker. The Brexit deal left farming exposed to global competition, with cheap imports from countries with lower environmental and welfare standards flooding the market (Financial Times, 2022). Farmers who once exported easily to European markets now navigate a complex web of tariffs and paperwork that undercuts their competitiveness. For small-scale farmers, Brexit has turned thriving businesses into precarious livelihoods (BBC News, 2023).
Brexit’s labor shortages have also added to the burden. Seasonal workers, previously sourced from EU countries, have become scarce due to restrictive immigration policies. Farmers now face unharvested crops, reduced production, and increased costs. Replacement seasonal worker schemes have proven insufficient, leaving many farmers in dire straits (The Guardian, 2023).
Against this backdrop of economic instability, Labour’s inheritance tax reform feels like an additional insult. For farmers and rural communities who voted Leave in hopes of reclaiming control and creating opportunities, the silence from Labour on Brexit’s fallout is particularly stinging. Many rural voters perceive Labour’s reluctance to address the economic damage caused by Brexit as a betrayal. According to The Guardian (2024), this sense of abandonment erodes trust and fuels disillusionment with the party’s leadership.
The Role of Right-Wing Media
The protests have not only been exploited by politicians but also weaponized by the right-wing media. These outlets have long opposed changes to inheritance tax, framing it as an attack on wealth rather than a measure to address inequality. For them, the protests are not about the plight of farmers but about preserving the interests of the wealthy elite they represent.
Using powerful images of farmers, their families, and even children on toy tractors, right-wing media has framed the inheritance tax reforms as an attack on rural Britain, deliberately conflating small-scale family farms with vast estates owned by the wealthiest landowners. By amplifying outrage and distorting the nuances of the reforms—such as the £3 million exemption for couples—these outlets have shifted the narrative away from solutions and toward division.
This framing has also helped convince many that the reforms will affect a far greater number of people than they actually will. Labour has been clear that the inheritance tax changes are designed to target only the wealthiest estates, yet the media narrative creates the illusion of a universal tax burden. This manipulation fuels public anger and undermines trust, leaving farmers—and much of the public—believing that they too will be disproportionately affected.
For Labour, this distortion has turned a focused policy into a broader public relations disaster. The government’s messaging about exemptions for smaller estates and the £5 billion investment in farming has failed to cut through the noise. Labour’s policy messaging here has been appalling, doing little to explain who will actually be impacted or to counter the distorted narrative. Instead, the right-wing media’s framing dominates, creating a narrative that is both politically damaging for Labour and misleading for the public.
The Irony of Political Advocacy
The farmers’ protests have also become a stage for political opportunism. Nigel Farage, Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch, and others have seized the moment to position themselves as champions of rural Britain. Yet their newfound concern for farmers rings hollow when viewed alongside their roles in championing Brexit and backing Boris Johnson’s “Get Brexit Done” deal—policies that have wreaked havoc on UK farming.
This irony is not lost on farmers. Farage, whose promises during the Brexit referendum lured many farmers to vote Leave, delivered export barriers, market instability, and a chronic labor shortage instead of the “freedom” he promised. Similarly, Badenoch and her Conservative colleagues supported a Brexit deal that exposed UK farming to global competition and undermined its labor supply (The Independent, 2024).
Their involvement in the protests is less about supporting farmers and more about attacking Labour. This opportunism has turned farmers’ genuine concerns into a political football. It also leaves Labour in an even more precarious position, as engaging with the issue risks being framed as a retreat under pressure from right-wing media and Farage’s Reform Party.
Adding Complexity: Labour’s Inheritance Tax Details
Labour argues that the reforms have been designed to protect smaller family farms while ensuring the wealthiest landowners pay their fair share. Under the new rules, estates worth up to £3 million for a couple can still be passed on entirely tax-free, a measure that Labour claims will exempt the majority of farming estates. Only the portion of estates valued above £1 million (or £3 million for a couple) will face the 20% levy.
In addition, Labour has pledged £5 billion in investment into farming over the next two years, focusing on sustainability and food production—the largest sum ever allocated to UK agriculture. This funding is intended to support rural development, environmental practices, and food security. However, for many protesting farmers, these benefits are overshadowed by the financial strain the new inheritance tax could impose, particularly for mid-sized farms caught in the tax net due to rising land values.
Conclusion: Labour’s Moment of Reckoning
The farmers’ protests are more than a reaction to a single policy—they are a symptom of deeper discontent. Labour’s silence on Brexit, combined with the backlash over inheritance tax, has created a political vacuum that opportunists like Farage and Badenoch are all too eager to fill. If Labour wants to stop the bleeding, it must confront these issues head-on, offering bold leadership and clear solutions.
This moment should have been a political reset. Labour’s landslide victory was a chance to reverse 14 years of decline under the Conservatives—a time marked by growing inequality, underfunded services, and Brexit’s devastating aftermath. Instead, Labour’s early months feel eerily like more of the same, with farmers and others seeing policies like this inheritance tax as yet another blow, and in some cases, the death knell for their industries.
Labour is left looking like just another establishment party presiding over managed decline. Its reluctance to address the root causes of economic struggles—chiefly Brexit—leaves it appearing timid, reactive, and more concerned with optics than real solutions. For farmers, and for many others, the hope for meaningful change is quickly fading, replaced by the grim reality of struggling to hold on.
We are at the very start of Labour’s government, but for those already facing hardship, the prospect of waiting years for something better feels unbearable. If Labour lacks the bravery or the will to take decisive action now, the toil over the next few years will be immense—not just for the party, but for the people it promised to serve. Without courage, conviction, and a clear vision, Labour risks becoming not the answer to years of decline but merely its latest steward.
References
BBC News, 2023. Brexit and Farming: How Britain's Agricultural Sector is Coping. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/business [Accessed 20 Nov. 2024].
Farmers Weekly, 2024. Inheritance Tax Changes Spark Outrage Among Farmers. [online] Available at:
https://www.farmersweekly.co.uk/
[Accessed 20 Nov. 2024].
Financial Times, 2022. Brexit’s Impact on UK Agriculture: A Sector Under Strain. [online] Available at: https://www.ft.com/content [Accessed 20 Nov. 2024].
National Farmers' Union, 2023. The State of UK Farming Post-Brexit: Challenges and Opportunities. [online] Available at:
https://www.nfuonline.com/
[Accessed 20 Nov. 2024].
The Guardian, 2023. Seasonal Workers Crisis: The Struggle for UK Farmers. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment [Accessed 20 Nov. 2024].
The Guardian, 2024. Brexit’s Betrayal: How Labour’s Silence is Costing Them Rural Support. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics [Accessed 20 Nov. 2024].
The Independent, 2024. Farmer Protests: Conservatives and Labour in the Spotlight. [online] Available at:
https://www.independent.co.uk/
[Accessed 20 Nov. 2024].