Jeremy Clarkson has accused Labour of trying to ‘nationalise the countryside’ as fury continues to grow over the crackdown on inheritance tax on farmers.
The Top Gear presenter said the new policy, introduced by Rachel Reeves in the Autumn Budget, could be ‘the last straw for farmers who are already struggling to cope’.
From April 2026, inheritance tax will be levied at an effective rate of 20 per cent on the value of business and agricultural assets over £1million.
Writing in his column for The Times this week, Clarkson questioned whether fathers will be able to pass on the trading secrets of farming to their children because they may be forced to sell up.
In the last five years Clarkson said agricultural land has become ‘the must-have accessory for people in suits’ causing prices to skyrocket. In his local area, he explained, some people have paid £15million for a 500-acre farm.
Clarkson accused the Labour party of going after ‘land owned by dukes and hedge-fund managers’ but said ‘Britain’s farmers seem to have been caught in the crossfire’.
And in doing so, Clarkson believes Rachel Reeves looks to have ‘killed farming’.
However, as a note of consolation, Clarkson added that if the number of farms going onto the market each year does increase, he believes prices will effectively plummet which could mean many fall below the tax threshold of £1million.
It comes as campaigners warned that the tax raid will affect almost all family farms, slamming the government for breaking ‘clear promises’ to protect the industry.
TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp said: ‘Rachel Reeves had f***ed all farmers, she has destroyed their ability to pass farms on to their children, and broken the future of all our great estates, it is an appalling decisions which shows the government has zero understanding of the what matters to rural voters.’
Meanwhile, industry leaders accused the Government of breaking ‘clear promises’ not to tamper with exemptions for agricultural property.
The National Farmers’ Union predicted the change – axing Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief on farms worth more than £1million – would ‘snatch away the next generation’s ability to carry on producing British food’ – and could lead to higher prices.
And the Country Land and Business Association said the move, from April 2026, would hit 70,000 farms – calling it ‘nothing short of a betrayal’ which would ‘jeopardise the future of rural businesses’.
Tory MP Neil O’Brien said: ‘She has gone way, way too low with the threshold for agricultural property – this is the end of the family farm.’
Previously those owning farmland benefitted from Agricultural Property Relief, meaning they were exempt from inheritance tax.
But now for those with farms worth more than £1million, the ‘death tax’ will apply with a 50 per cent relief at an effective rate of 20 per cent from April 2026.
The rural community is up in arms over the changes to tax relief on farmland, with MPs in Britain’s farming heartland already being bombarded with furious letters.
