Jeremy Clarkson arrives in London as he joins forces with furious farmers in ‘tractor tax’ protest
Jeremy Clarkson, 64, has been pictured arriving in London to join thousands of other farmers protesting the government’s so-called “tractor tax”.
The Clarkson’s Farm star, who is also recovering from a recent heart operation, has been a vocal opponent of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget ever since she unveiled its measures last month.
Clarkson joins the thousands of farmers who are descending on Westminster to protest against Labour’s controversial inheritance tax changes, with up to 40,000 people expected to join the demonstrations.
Two separate events are planned in central London, beginning at 11am on Whitehall, as farmers voice their opposition to Reeves’ recent Budget announcement.
The so-called “tractor tax” set out in the aforementioned Budget will end the inheritance tax exemption that has helped family farms pass through generations.
From 2026, farmers with land worth more than £1 million will no longer be able to leave their farms to their children tax-free.
The government says the changes will only impact about 500 farms annually, with affected estates paying a 20 percent rate rather than the usual 40 percent.
The tax will be payable in instalments over 10 years, according to the new measures.
Farmers warn the changes will threaten the viability of family farms, which often operate on tight profit margins.
Clarkson’s appearance at the protest comes just days after he was left fuming to hear the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) had to cancel its own event due to “legal reasons”.
He’s been a vocal opponent to Reeves and her red box ever since she announced its contents in the Commons last month.
As soon as the measures were proposed, Clarkson took to X to pen: “Rachel Reeves. I literally daren’t comment.”
When probed by a fan on what his post was alluding to, Clarkson expanded further: “We have a new government. It’s turning out to be hopeless.”
In a subsequent column for The Sun, Clarkson also accused Reeves and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of a “sinister” plan to “ethnically cleanse the countryside of farmers”.
The former Top Gear star had suggested the government should’ve targeted the new inheritance tax measures on wealthy landowners like himself rather than all farmers.
“I wouldn’t have liked it very much, but I would have understood,” Clarkson wrote before insisting that Reeves’s claims that 73 percent of farms won’t be affected are “nonsense”.
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He fumed: “The truth is, there are no farmers who are happy with what Reeves and her politburo have done. And when you see what happens to the countryside and the cost of your food, you won’t be happy either…
“I’m becoming more and more convinced that Starmer and Reeves have a sinister plan.
“They want to carpet bomb our farmland with new towns for immigrants and net zero windfarms. But before they can do that, they have to ethnically cleanse the countryside of farmers.
“That’s why they had a Budget which makes farming nigh on impossible. And that’s why I’ll be in London on the 19th.”