THE level of rural anger at the Government’s changes to inheritance tax will be highlighted when a series of large demonstrations by farmers are staged in London tomorrow.

The National Farmers’ Union has arranged for 1,800 of its members to hold a mass lobby of MPs, while thousands more farmers and their supporters are set to attend a rally in Whitehall.

They are protesting against the Government’s decision to impose inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1m as well as plans to speed up the phasing out of EU-era subsidies.

Farming leaders claim the changes will effectively end the era of the family-owned farm, and while the Government has argued that small family farms will not be affected, their own figures are contested by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.

Increasingly, the moves announced in the budget appear to be both ill-conceived and potentially extremely damaging. For reasons of food security, environmental management and rural social cohesion, Britain needs its small family-run farms.