Farmers from all over Cornwall travelled to London today to take part in a protest in Westminster against changes to inheritance tax (IHT) announced in the Budget writes Lee Trewhela. 

Since 1984, agricultural property relief (APR) has allowed small family farms to be exempt from IHT, but from April 2026, those with agricultural assets worth more than £1 million will be liable to the tax at 20 per cent – half the usual rate.

The tax is a cause of concern for countless family farms in Cornwall, many of which have been farmed by the same family for generations. Hundreds of Cornish farmers got up in the early hours, which is nothing new for many of them, to travel to London on buses and by train today.

Steve Arthur, a Cornwall councillor and farmer who represents Perranporth, was on a bus with 50 fellow farmers. He told us: “I have 70 acres so will hopefully be under the threshold but I can see the damage that it will do to the farming and associated businesses. The cap needs lifting to £5m when some farms under that figure are barely making a profit year on year. Asset rich, penny poor has never been so true.”

He was sitting next to fellow Cornwall councillor Alan Jewell, who said he was lending his support against this “unfair tax on farmers who hardly make a profit”.

“How does the next generation pay for 20 per cent of the farm when there are such low profits?” asked another Cornish farmer, Brian Matthews.

Dave Walter said: “As a dairy engineer running a small business, how am I supposed to keep going with extra overhead costs and my customers being hit by these inheritance tax increases creating a downturn in business? Nobody is going to invest if they have no future.”

“As a farmer and a mother I worry about my children’s future and all children of the UK,” said ‘Farmer Suz’, who was also travelling to Westminster to take part in the protest. “This is far bigger than just inheritance tax for farmers. This is for our country’s survival and food production. They are taxing the rich and taxing the poor. And when we die they tax us more.”

North Cornwall MP Ben Maguire met Cornish farmers at the protest as his party, the Liberal Democrats, demanded “axe the family farm tax”. He said: “Family farmers across Cornwall have already been failed by a Conservative party that didn’t care about them – they can’t now be let down by a Labour government that doesn’t understand them.”

“I was very pleased to meet some of my farming constituents today who came up to Westminster to make their voices heard. Us Liberal Democrats are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with these farmers, calling for the planned family farm tax – which would be disastrous for farmers across North Cornwall – to be scrapped.

“British farmers are already battling with sky-high energy bills and botched trade deals, and this hike will only make things much worse. I stand with all the farmers in Cornwall and say to the Government that an urgent change of course is needed.”

Cornwall Council is set to debate a motion titled ‘Supporting Our Farmers’, proposed by Nick Craker and seconded by James Mustoe, who are both Conservative councillors, to challenge the controversial changes.

Cllr Craker said: “The Labour Government’s changes to inheritance tax threaten the survival of family farms, which are crucial to Cornwall’s heritage, economy, and food security. This tax is an attack on rural life, and Cornwall Council must stand united with our farmers in opposing it.

“The council’s vote on this motion will be a pivotal moment in the fight to protect Cornwall’s farming communities and preserve their future for generations to come.”