Jeremy Clarkson is expected to defy doctor’s orders and join thousands of other farmers in Westminster to protest against Labour’s inheritance tax changes.
Follow LIVE updates as thousands of farmers descend on London for anti-'tractor tax' rally
The former Top Gear presenter will be at the rally alongside his Clarkson’s Farm co-star Kaleb Cooper despite being told he should avoid stressful situations.
He told the Sun: “I will be there, despite having letters from doctors telling me not to go on the march and saying I must avoid stress.”
He added: “We have got two coaches of farmers from around here who are leaving from Diddly Squat. It is a hugely important issue.”
The 64-year-old who has been praised for his reality series Clarkson’s Farm, has also been in talks with organisers to give a speech as a row about the new “tractor tax” deepens.
The rally on Tuesday will hear from celebrities and farming leaders while a procession to Parliament Square will be spearheaded by children on toy tractors.
Organisers have told those coming that they should not bring their farm machinery.
Protests already erupted outside the Welsh Labour conference over the new taxes for farms worth more than £1 million, exacerbated by uncertainty about Treasury figures the Budget move is based on.
Meanwhile last week Clarkson accused the government of “ethnically cleansing” the British countryside to make way for “immigrant towns” on farmland.
The 64-year-old wrote in The Sun to criticise the inheritance tax extension proposed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
He wrote: “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 wind farms.
“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.”
Announcing the new measures during the budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “We will reform agricultural property relief and business relief from April 2026; the first £1m of combined business and agricultural assets will continue to attract no inheritance tax at all.
“But for assets over £1m, inheritance tax will apply with a 50 per cent relief and at an effective rate of 20 per cent. This will ensure we continue to protect small family farms with three-quarters of claims unaffected by these changes.”
Ministers have also highlighted that related allowances will push up the payment threshold to £3m and the vast majority of farms will be unaffected.
But farmers argue they are bearing the brunt of a system that the mega-wealthy exploit to avoid paying taxes.
Farmers will rally at Whitehall against the changes announced in last month’s Budget on Tuesday, while separately the National Farmers’ Union will hold a mass lobby of MPs in their efforts to get the Government to rethink.
“I think the industry is feeling betrayed, feeling angry,” National Farmers’ Union President Tom Bradshaw said.
He told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “We have a Government saying food security is a critical part of national security, yet they’ve ripped the rug out from that very industry which is going to invest in food security for the future.”
Treasury data shows that around three-quarters of farmers will pay nothing in inheritance tax as a result of the controversial changes announced in the Budget last month.
However, farmers have challenged the figures, pointing instead to data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which suggests 66% of farm businesses are worth more than the £1 million threshold at which inheritance tax will now need to be paid.
Sir Keir Starmer has said he is “absolutely confident” that the “vast majority of farms and farmers” will not be affected by changes to inheritance tax announced in the Budget.
He added: “Obviously, there’s an issue around inheritance tax and I do understand the concern.
“But for a typical case, which is parents with a farm they want to pass on to one of their children, by the time you’ve taken into account not only the exemption for the farm property itself, but also the exemption for spouse to spouse, then parent to child, it’s £3 million before any inheritance tax will be payable.
“That’s why I am absolutely confident the vast majority of farms and farmers will not be affected by this.”
