Tractors lined the streets of Whitehall to send a message to the government, trying to force a U-turn on the controversial policy.
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00:00Westminster is usually abuzz with tourists and politicians, but today the farmers are taking over.
00:05I am in Whitehall and if you can't hear, the farmers are making an absolute racket behind me.
00:11Farmers from Kent and across the country have come out to protest the government's controversial inheritance tax hike on farms.
00:19One thing that is palpable is the anger against Labour Party, against Keir Starmer and against Rachel Reeves.
00:25To recap, back in October as part of the autumn budget, Rachel Reeves introduced a 20% inheritance tax on any farm assets over a million pounds.
00:33Previously, farms had been exempt from any inheritance tax.
00:37But how can we say to the next generation, before you even start work, you'll be paying 10 years of tax burden?
00:45It's the only word I can think of is fast, without losing my temper.
00:50Three meetings with my local MP, new Labour MP, I asked him on behalf of the Swale and Sheppey farmers,
00:57please do not vote for it or abstain. And an hour later, he voted for it.
01:02I'm a fifth generation farmer. As it stands at the moment, for our family farm, we potentially could have a tax bill for £1.2 million.
01:12We would have to sell land to be able to pay the inheritance tax.
01:16Now for the last 70 years, we've been trying to grow the size of our farm.
01:20And if we have to sell land off, all that work over 70 years will be for a waste, waste of time.
01:26Never missing an opportunity to jump into the political fray, Nigel Farage made an appearance.
01:30I think there's a silent majority on the side of the little man and woman against the giant corporations.
01:35We actually have a connection with the landscape. One of our MPs is actually a full time farmer.
01:42So we have some understanding of this. Sadly, there are too many in the big parties who are just so disconnected from the English countryside.
01:49Listen to the farmers. This grief tax, this family farm tax is a catastrophe, destroying investment,
01:56destroying the opportunity to grow more British food, reducing jobs. Absolute catastrophe.
02:02But despite the protest outside, Keir Starmer refused to back down on the policy when challenged by Ed Davey at Prime Minister's Questions.
02:08We put £5 billion into farming over the next two years. That's a record number under the budget.
02:15In a typical family case, the threshold is £3 million and therefore the vast majority of farmers will be unaffected despite the fear mongering of the party opposite.
02:25For now, the protests roll on. Aidan McNamee, KMTV News.