Clarkson furious as farmers’ IHT protest blocked while pro-Palestinian marches continue


Clarkson furious as farmers’ IHT protest blocked while pro-Palestinian marches continue

08 November 2024 9:34am GMT A mass protest by farmers against Rachel Reeves’s inheritance tax raid has been blocked, Jeremy Clarkson has claimed. The former Top Gear presenter was among hundreds of farmers who had planned to attend a major demonstration on Nov 19 against the Government’s inheritance tax raid on their land. However the National Farmers Union (NFU) said that “legal issues” meant that only 1,800 of their members would be allowed to attend a lobbying event and that protesters could not “simply turn up in numbers in Westminster in the streets or the open spaces”. Scotland Yard stressed that they “have not banned anyone from marching on this date” and officers “will work with anyone wishing to organise a peaceful protest”. Clarkson, 64, owner of Diddly Squat Farm, questioned why demonstrations from Just Stop Oil and pro-Palestinian activists have been allowed to go ahead with far greater numbers. In an interview with the Sun newspaper, Clarkson said he had booked a coach to London to protest alongside farmers from the Cotswolds, but he has now been forced to shelve his plans. He told the newspaper: “Perhaps, if I had draped my tractor in a Palestinian flag it would be different. “It seems that if you are from Just Stop Oil or protesting about Gaza, you can do what you want. “But farmers are treated differently by a government that is waging an all out-war on the countryside. “We wanted to protest in a dignified and sensible way – which was why I had booked the coach rather than causing disruption with tractors and farming vehicles.” Last week, Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, used her Budget to end the practice of letting all farmers pass on estates without inheritance tax, instead placing a 20 per cent tax on assets worth more than £1 million. It has led to warnings that the “tractor tax” will threaten food security and irreparably damage Britain’s farming industry. Clarkson claimed that NFU organisers have been told to restrict their numbers for the rally. NFU, in a message to their 55,000 members on Wednesday, urged those who have not registered to stay away from London.