A third-generation farmer has warned that inheritance tax threatens to end his family’s agricultural legacy, preventing his son from continuing their farming tradition.
Speaking to GB News, Clive Bailye expressed grave concerns about his son Henry’s future in farming.
“I’m the third generation, and sadly will probably be the last if this tax stays,” Bailye said.
“From my own personal point of view, my son Henry, it’s going to take away the option for him to be the next generation of farmers,” he added.
Bailye hit out at Chancellor Rachel Reeves as farmers descended on Westminster
GB News
Farmers are staging a fresh tractor protest outside Parliament today as opposition continues against Labour’s planned inheritance tax changes for agricultural land.
In their third demonstration against the Government, farmers drove their vehicles through the capital in a fresh attack on the tax raid imposed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Bailye emphasised that while growing up on a farm offers a privileged childhood, it isn’t necessarily financially privileged, and British farmers face mounting financial pressures beyond inheritance tax.
“We’ve got other taxes, carbon tax on fertiliser, even down to taxes on a double cab, pickups that we need to use for work,” he told GB News.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Protesters drove tractors through Westminster to demonstrate against the changes by LabourGB NewsThe agricultural sector is experiencing what Bailye describes as “an overall attack from the Government on farming and the British countryside.”
“We’re being hit from all angles, and it’s just becoming an impossible tax to pay. It really will be the end,” he warned.
Bailye explained that farmland represents essential business capital rather than disposable wealth. “The wealth that’s tied up in farmland and what they aim to tax with the inheritance tax, that’s our working capital, that’s the cost of doing business,” he said.
He added: “Farmers are not special, no more special than any other member of society. We pay our taxes, we pay our income tax, we pay VAT, pay National Insurance contributions.
“But to tax our asset, it’s a bit like asking a plumber to sell his tools to pay his tax.”
Bailye told GB News that the Labour Government are ‘not listening’ to farmers and their supporters
GB News
Bailye highlighted the orderly nature of their November 19th Westminster demonstration, with farmers maintaining peaceful protests despite growing frustrations with Government policies.
He contrasted British farmers’ approach with expectations of more disruptive protests: “People are saying, when will we get more French? Will there be roads blocked? Will there be that kind of trouble? And I think we proved as farmers that that’s not what we’re about.”
Bailye highlighted strong public backing for their cause. “We’ve had fantastic public support and that’s what it’s all about,” he said.
“We understand that it’s not just farmers that are upset and annoyed with this Government and the way that they’re just they’re not listening,” Bailye added.