GB News' Anna Riley takes ride in tractor as farmers 'send Rachel Reeves a message'

GB News' Anna Riley takes a ride in a tractor as farmers 'send Rachel Reeves a message' |

GB NEWS

Gabrielle Wilde

By Gabrielle Wilde


Published: 24/11/2025

- 15:08

The sixth-generation farmer explained that the proposed inheritance tax changes could devastate family-run farms

GB News reporter Anna Riley joined a farmer in his tractor today, as he drove through the streets of Lincolnshire protesting the Inheritance Tax reforms.

The farmer, Tom Stamp, told The People's Channel that the farmers were "sending Rachel Reeves a message" ahead of Wednesdays Budget.


The sixth-generation farmer explained that the proposed inheritance tax changes could devastate family-run farms.

“We’ve been backed into a corner,” he said, warning that the policy leaves little time to plan for passing the business to younger generations.

He said: "So today it's just really to raise awareness that we are not happy with the inheritance tax policy that's potentially coming in place in the budget.

"And it's we're out today to basically give a message to Rachel Reeves to rethink before the Budget, basically."

"My grandfather, who's 88, the majority of the business is in his name.

"So we really feel like we've been backed into a corner of this one. There's no time to plan to give the business to younger generations, and we just really feel like we've been really unfairly treated.

Anna Riley

Anna Riley joined the farmer in the tractor today

|

GB NEWS

"In Lincolnshire in particular, there's a lot of farmers here that have had to diversify to keep going."

He explained: "We've diversified to basically subsidize the farm, really, so we can keep farming in the first place.

"So then to be taxed with an inheritance tax. When the filing doesn't make any money in the first place, it's a really hard one to digest."

Asked what he would like to see at the Budget on Wednesday, Mr Stamp said: "I'd like to see the the tax to tax to be taxed basically. It's unaffordable. A business it cannot, it's not financially viable to, pay it."

Tom Stamp

Tom Stamp drove his tractor through Lincolnshire

|

GB NEWS

A record number of farms have shut down in the year since the Government announced it would end the exemption that allowed farmers to pass on their estates free from inheritance tax.

Official data shows that 6,365 businesses in agriculture, forestry, and fishing have closed over the past 12 months, the highest figure since records began in 2017, according to City AM.

The surge in farm closures has ramped up criticism of the Government’s decision to end Agricultural Property Relief, the long-standing inheritance tax exemption that allowed farmland to be passed to the next generation tax-free.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics, published on Friday, revealed that most farm closures over the past year occurred in the first half of 2025, following Rachel Reeves’ announcement to scrap the inheritance tax relief.

Only 3,190 new enterprises were launched in the sector over the same period, leading to a record net loss of more than 3,000 businesses.

The farmer added: "We're not here to annoy people. We're here to raise awareness.

"We've been getting some hype for it, some thumbs up, some clapping. And people are generally pleased to see that we're out and showing our thoughts what we think of it.

"You can hear that van beeping there. What we really think about Labour and we're not happy. It generally feels like no one else is really."

More From GB News