Northern Ireland farmers present during tractor protest which brough central London to a standstill
Northern Ireland farmers were present at a major protest which brought central London to a standstill - but were not among those arrested, it is reported.
Several people were arrested after farmers in tractors brought central London to a standstill on Budget day, Wednesday, despite police warnings.
Reform UK said it would pay for their legal costs, saying the arrests were “outrageous”.
The protest was primarily against Chancellor Rachel Reeves' new inheritance tax of 20%, to be applied to all farm assets worth over £1m from April.
Stormont’s Department of Agriculture says it threatens the future of 50% of NI’s 24,000 farms.
William Taylor from the Northern Ireland group, Farmers for Action, took part in the protest.
"There were a small number of Northern Ireland farmers there but I don't think any of them were arrested because it was really just farmers driving tractors who the police went after,” he said.
"My understanding is that those arrested were all on tractors and they were trying to get to central Whitehall."
The top issue of concern to the farmers was the radical new inheritance tax on farms, he said.
Between 600 and 1000 protestors turned out in London to oppose it.
Mr Taylor said that a recent poll showed that 51% of farmers are considering leaving the industry.
While food processors are getting "wealthy beyond their wildest dreams" he said farmers are getting the same price for grain as 40 years ago, and getting less than 1987 prices for milk.
His proposed way forward is guaranteed minimum fixed prices for farmers selling to food processors; Farmers would spend their increased income, providing much more tax for the Government, he argues.
But Ulster Farmers Union (UFU) President William Irvine said the proposals gained no traction at Stormont because 80% of NI produce is sold outside the UK, where the Government could not impose minimum prices.
He too was in London on the day of the protest, but did not take part as it was not organised by the main unions, he said.
There was little to encourage farmers in the budget except that inheritance tax relief can now be shared between spouses.
Their last great hope of challenging the new inheritance tax, he says, is through an amendment to the forthcoming Finance Bill in Parliament.
There is "a small chance of getting some traction" because the Labour Party is in "quite a bit of turmoil at the moment", he says, but he accepts it would be "a big step" for any Labour MP to vote against their party's budget.
He firmly believes that the proposed inheritance tax is a serious risk to the UK's national food security in an increasingly unstable world; the UK currently supplies just 60% of its own food, he adds.
Further measures he would like to have seen in the budget, he says, were inheritance tax allowances for farmers who are very elderly or terminally ill "because they have no opportunity to put any mitigations in place".
David Gunn, an arable farmer from Kent, who attended Wednesday’s protest, said rising taxes and dropping farm gate prices means farmers are “going out of business”.
He called on Government to live up to its manifesto pledge to "look after the farmers".