Several farmers have been arrested after driving to Westminster in defiance of a tractor ban as they protested against Rachel Reeves’ Budget.

Agriculturists were banned from bringing their tractors amid plans for protests against controversial UK inheritance tax reforms, known as ‘family farm tax’. 

At the 11th hour, the Metropolitan Police announced that today’s demonstration against the ending of inheritance relief would be restricted to a small, designated area of Whitehall.

Farmers were no longer allowed to protest outside Downing Street as the force said it could ‘result in serious disruption to the life of the community’.

Despite this, dozens of tractors were parked outside Parliament in defiance of Met police restrictions prohibiting agricultural machinery from the area.

They repeatedly sounded the tractor horns while police stood watching, with rush-hour traffic brought to a standstill. 

The force has since confirmed several arrests have been made, but the specific number of those taken into custody is not yet clear. 

Meanwhile, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has declared he will pay for the defence of farmers, who have been arrested.  

‘The farmers’ planned protest on Whitehall has been cancelled by the police at the last moment,’ he said.

‘They have come to London and are now being arrested. This is outrageous.

‘Reform UK will provide full legal support to every farmer protesting peacefully today.’

One man being led away by police told Farmers Guide: ‘He just said “Right, that’s it, you’ve been warned three times, I’m arresting you”. It’s a joke!’.

A Met Police spokesperson said: ‘Anyone breaching conditions by bringing vehicles, including tractors or agricultural vehicles, to today’s farmers protest will be asked by officers to leave. 

‘If they refuse to comply with the conditions, officers will have to make arrests for offences under the Public Order Act. 

‘We have already spoken to a number of individuals this morning to advise them of the conditions. 

‘The majority have listened to officers and complied with the conditions, however, several arrests have been made.’

This morning, tractors travelled to the capital, with one green tractor spotted with a dragon on the back, as well as the words: ‘I save my labour. RIP farming.’ 

The restrictions on the demonstration, organised by Berkshire Farmers, were met with fury and accusations of ‘two-tier policing’. 

Speaking to Sky News, organiser Dan Willis from Berkshire Farmers said he was ‘absolutely devastated’ by the restrictions on their demonstration. 

‘We had already got the word out to everybody, it was impossible. They were coming anyway,’ he said.

‘The Met, unfortunately, have scored an own goal here and created carnage. We know it’s come from the government. 

‘We know they don’t want to listen to us in the house or on the street, but we need to exercise our right to protest, and at the end of the day, that is what’s happening today.

‘This is such an emotive issue, you are talking about death and losing family assets, which is how we earn our living and by the way, produce our food.

‘Taxing the working people of this country, it is impossible to go on.’

The farmers then shoved red boxes with the words, ‘Who needs food’, ‘Taxed to death’, ‘Budget 2024’, into farm machinery, which spat out shredded remnants. 

A woman told the broadcaster: ‘Look at these young people around you now, all these young people want to go farming, and you are going to stop them doing their jobs

‘We need them to be able to carry on these businesses and bring the food to this country, and the food the people want in this country.

‘The British people want British food, and that’s more important. This inheritance tax is just stopping all these young people from their jobs.’

Meanwhile, others driving around the streets of the capital city were seen with signs that read: ‘No farms, no food, no future,’ as well as ‘fools vote for Labour’. 

Farmer and former Big Brother contestant, Cameron Kinch, said: ‘It’s going to potentially destroy British agriculture as we know it in this country.

‘Passing on your farm to your kids is why we farm, quite frankly.’ 

He added: ‘Like many farming families across the country, I have elderly grandparents and the best tax advice up until this point in the broad terms has been to keep your farm in the oldest generation.

‘But with the changes coming in, it will mean you have seven years if you want to avoid this catastrophe that will come if your parents die. It is a tax that we can’t afford to pay.

‘When you have returns on investments on the farms at 0.5 per cent, and the government expects us to pay 20 per cent value on the farm, you can do the maths. You are going to have to sell up the farm. It’s really that simple.’

Of Britain, he said: ‘It is not the greatest place to be a farmer at the minute, I can’t lie.’ 

Gareth Wyn Jones, a farmer from North Wales, echoed a similar sentiment, describing the current climate within the farming industry as ‘pretty scary’. 

‘We’ve already had people taking their own lives, mental health is at an all-time low,’ he told the Daily Mail. 

‘Personally, I don’t think anybody should be paying inheritance tax. We’re already taxed on that money.

‘We’ve been taxed when we buy it, and we’re taxed on everything we do. It’s frustrating when you work so hard.

‘My father, he’s 89, he’s never had a holiday, never had a passport, never bought a new car.

‘He’s worked all his life, and he wants to hand that down, and before the previous Budget, he could have done that with no tax implications. 

‘It could now cost us a fortune,’ he added. ‘There are a lot of farmers who are not in a position to pay it, so we need a change

‘If we had a war or another pandemic, this country would go hungry very, very quickly.

‘And the more farmers that go out of business and the more farmers we lose, the less chance we can be food secure in the United Kingdom.

‘They haven’t done their mathematics very well, Rachel from accounts is not very good at making the sums, and that’s the truth.’ 

Of the Met’s protest ban on tractors, he added: ‘Well, it looks like they’re going to have to let them go to Whitehall. 

‘The whole of London is now at a standstill, and it’s all because the Met Police pulled the plug on this at the last minute, which is absolutely shambolic.’

Farmer Mark Watler from Grantham, Lincolnshire, was among campaigners from the National Farmers’ Union gathered in Trafalgar Square.

The 50-year-old said: ‘The inheritance tax is just the tip of the iceberg. We’re not doing it for the money, it’s a passion. We just want a fair deal.’

‘I’ve grown up working on farms from the age of 12. It’s disheartening to see how we’re being treated.’

Tractors are also parked up around the equestrian statue of Charles I in Westminster, despite police restrictions.

David Gunn, an arable farmer and agricultural contractor from near Sevenoaks in Kent, said he was protesting for several reasons.

‘Inheritance tax is one reason, it’s going to cripple the farmers, the small family farmers,’ he said.

‘There’s all the other taxes they’ve been putting on us, and the prices we get for our produce and what it costs in the shop, we don’t make any money.

‘Then there’s food security, farmers are going out of business,’ he added a message to the government, which was: ‘Sort the pledge out.’

Another farmer attended the event dressed as Father Christmas, with his tractor carrying a large spruce tree and bearing a sign that read: ‘Farmer Christmas – the naughty list: Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves, David Lammy, Diane Abbott, Angela Rayner & the BBC’.

In their Tuesday statement, the Met said the decision to ban agricultural machinery from Whitehall had been taken because of ‘serious disruption’ the vehicles may cause to the local area, including businesses, emergency services and the public.

Any individual taking part in the farmers’ protest must remain in a specified area in Richmond Terrace, Whitehall, the force added.

One farmer said: ‘The event had permission and all previous events have been peaceful, tidy and with no arrests’.

He asked: ‘Is this two-tier policing to avoid embarrassment to (Rachel) Reeves on budget day?’

Yorkshire farmer Jonathan Charlesworth, whose father John took his own life so he could pass on the farm before Ms Reeves’ hated new policy comes in next April, said: ‘All previous farmer protests have been peaceful and well organised; it is an awareness event to raise legitimate concerns farmers in the UK have about the dismal outlook for farming businesses in the UK. 

‘I don’t believe any of the reasons given to cancel the tractor convoy have a basis, considering much more divisive marches have taken place including pro-Palestinian marches and the Tommy Robinson march combined with the Stand up to Racism March on the same day.

‘It screams two-tier policing, to protect the government from further adverse publicity on another budget day that is likely to bring more hardship to working families from all walks of life not just farmers.’

Mr Charlesworth Sr, 78, was found dead the day before budget day last October 29 having read rumours about the planned tax raid.

Wednesday’s protest comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves is facing pressure from farmers to axe plans to introduce inheritance tax on farming land and businesses.

The Chancellor’s plans to introduce a 20 per cent rate on agricultural land and businesses worth more than £1 million have become a political flashpoint for a sector struggling with rising costs, tough market conditions and worsening climate impacts.

Last December, thousands of protesters gathered along Whitehall and angry farmers drove their tractors outside Parliament, demonstrating against the decision which farmers said put their businesses, futures and food security at risk.

Tory MP Sir John Hayes, chairman of the backbench Common Sense group, said: ‘It shouldn’t be beyond the wit of the Metropolitan Police to allow activities of this kind.

‘It seems bizarre that they allow so many demonstrations to go ahead by the most bizarre, extreme groups yet we can’t allow the farmers who feed the nation.’ 

Clive Bailye, of The Farming Forum, who organised the first tractor protest against the inheritance tax raid last November, said: ‘It does feel like two-tier policing. The feedback from the Met about our protest was that we were a pleasure to work with.

‘The organisers of this protest were assured it could go ahead, then were told at 2.30pm yesterday that it couldn’t.’ 

Victoria Atkins MP, Shadow Environment Secretary, said: ‘Farmers deserve answers. The police have changed their minds with less than 24 hours to go, having worked with farmers over the last 12 days to ensure a safe and effective protest over the vindictive Family Farm and Business Taxes.

‘What has changed? It doesn’t smell right, particularly when we think of the regular and frequent protests that are allowed in SW1, which inconvenience motorists, residents and businesses without consideration. Is this to save the Chancellor embarrassment ahead of her Budget of Broken Promises?’