Farmers protesting Labour tax raid at ‘Pancake Day Rally' face arrest, police warn
Organisers have said that the 'Pancake Day Rally' on Tuesday aims to be 'bigger and better' than the previous two demonstrations, as their campaign against changes to inheritance tax rules continues.
Attendees will march from Whitehall at around midday towards Parliament, with the demonstration due to end at 3pm.
Conditions have been imposed under the Public Order Act preventing demonstrators from bringing tractors, other than a limited number already agreed by the organisers to demonstrate the costs of such specialist equipment, the Metropolitan Police said.
Dept Asst Commissioner Ben Russell, who is leading the policing operation, said last month's protest saw a 'significant number of people attend with tractors and other large farming vehicles'.
He said there were lengthy road delays, adding: 'It is our responsibility to ensure that protests don't cause serious disruption to the life of the community.'
Scotland Yard warned that it is a criminal offence to breach the conditions or to incite others to do so, and that anyone doing so may face arrest.
Protest on foot
Olly Harrison, a farmer and one of the organisers, said: 'We don't need any tractors, this is on foot. We are going to have some kit to show to the MPs to explain the levels of investment.
He added: 'Let's explain the levels of investment needed in agriculture just to produce something simple like a pancake.'
Labour is pressing ahead with a 20 per cent inheritance tax rate on agricultural land and businesses worth more than £1 million, despite industry concerns that it will force land sales, stall investment and hurt families lacking succession plans. The changes are due to come into force from April 2026.
A Government spokesman said: 'Our commitment to farmers remains steadfast. This Government will invest £5 billion into farming over the next two years, the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country's history.
'We are going further with reforms to boost profits for farmers by backing British produce and reforming planning rules on farms to support food production.
'Our reform to agricultural and business property relief will mean three-quarters of estates will continue to pay no inheritance tax at all, while the remaining quarter will pay half the inheritance tax that most people pay, and payments can be spread over 10 years, interest-free.
'This is a fair and balanced approach which helps fix the public services we all rely on.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
27 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Inside UK's first TGI Friday's - now abandoned and graffiti-covered
As TGI Friday's looks to make a comeback in the UK, pictures from inside the derelict and destroyed first restaurant in Edgbaston, Birmingham, show a grim state A derelict TGI Fridays has been left in ruins, with graffiti daubed across its boarded-up front and shards of broken glass scattered across the floor. The once-bustling Edgbaston restaurant, on Hagley Road, Birmingham, made history as the very first TGI Fridays in the UK before shutting its doors last October. But now, the famous site has been reduced to a vandal's playground. Spray paint covers much of the exterior, while one window appears to have been smashed, leaving glass littering the ground. The place is now surrounded by boards to keep intruders out. It comes after a Brit abroad slams all-inclusive hotel food asking 'what on earth is this?' It's not the first time an abandoned TGI has been targeted this year. In March, the Sutton Coldfield branch, which also lay empty, was broken into, with vandals leaving a gaping hole in one of its windows. The closures come after the US diner chain axed 35 of its restaurants in a shock move last year. But 51 sites were saved in a dramatic rescue deal by Breal Capital and Calveton UK, including the popular Birmingham NEC and Walsall Waterfront locations. Since lighting up British high streets back in 1986 with its neon-gilded entrance in Birmingham, TGI Fridays has been a beloved hangout, but the past year has seen its fortunes nosedive. In September 2024, Hostmore, which is the UK operator of the chain, pulled the plug on a fabled £177million buyout of the American parent and entered administration, triggering a wave of panic. Suddenly, 87 UK restaurants hung in limbo, and 4,500 jobs trembled on the brink. A rescue deal in October by private equity titans Breal Capital and Calveton UK swooped in to save the day. They bought 51 restaurants, preserving around 2,000 jobs, but left 35 sites to shut their doors with immediate effect, etching more than 1,000 redundancies into the record. The shuttered list reads like a UK road trip: Birmingham's historic Hagley Road, Leicester Square's flagship, Brighton Marina, Sutton Coldfield, Swansea, all which are boarded up amid growing despair. In January 2025, the cherished Leicester Square branch, once deemed safe, quietly closed too—a poignant sign of how perilous the chain's path remains. Now, behind the scenes, the brand is trying to stage a comeback. With an Americana-infused 'brand reset' in the works, which involves revamping 70% of its menu and leaning into its old-school charm,TGI Fridays hopes to re-ignite the spark that once made it a Friday-night staple. Birmingham City Council has been asked for comment.
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Fish and chip shops 'could vanish' due to Nigel Farage's net zero opposition
Labour MP Bill Esterson, chair of the Energy Security and Net Zero Select Committee, accused Reform UK of ignoring the dangers of climate change and its impact on prices Fish and chips are at risk of vanishing from the high street if Nigel Farage has his way, a senior Labour figure has warned. British waters have seen record average temperatures over the first seven months of the year, leading to shifts in the species living in our waters, and creating challenges for fishing. Statistics also show the average price of fish and chips jumped from £6.64 in January 2020 to £10.09 in January 2025, despite industry attempts to ' cushion the blow ' for consumers. Labour MP Bill Esterson, chair of the Energy Security and Net Zero Select Committee, has now accused Reform of ignoring the dangers of climate change, and argued it was seeing prices soar in a blow to business. He told The Mirror: "While Nigel Farage wants us to ignore climate change, part of the British way of life is under threat. The seas around the UK are warming up. Cod and haddock are moving to colder waters." It comes after a Reform UK police chief's 'dark heart of wokeness' claim comes under fire. He continued: "The Labour government is taking climate action at home and abroad which will help limit the rise in sea temperatures. Reform needs to explain why they are happy for the British public to pay through the nose for our fish and chips, or possibly even lose our nation's favourite dish once and for all.' Mr Farage has previously described the UK's net zero target as 'complete and utter madness', while his fellow Reform MP Richard Tice recently 'declared war' on green energy projects. National Federation of Fish Friers President Andrew Crook told The Mirror climate change could be a factor in the price increases, and that the UK's chippies were doing their best to keep prices down for customers. He said: 'Most of the fish used in the nation's fish and chip shops comes from the Barents Sea and the waters around Iceland as the fish prefers deeper colder water than around the UK. We are currently feeling the effects of the quota for cod being reduced from 1m tonnes five years ago to 340,000 tonnes this year as scientists are trying to address a couple of poor year classes of fish. 'These could be caused by climate change, predation or another natural occurrence. In isolation we could handle it but we are seeing increases across the board and high tax burden which unfortunately has led to some increases but we are trying to cushion consumers as much as we can so they can continue to enjoy the nation's favourite dish.'
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
KEVIN MAGUIRE: 'Brextremists and Trumpists have proved their unfitness to govern Britain'
The Mirror's Kevin Maguire argues that Brextremists and Trumpists have proved they are unfit to ever govern Britain again, saying "they must never be trusted" They must never be trusted again, inviting infamy as the British fools who sold out heroic Volodymyr Zelensky and assaulted Ukraine by supporting Putin's puppet Donald Trump 's bid for the US Presidency. Lickspittle Nigel Farage campaigned for his 'good friend' Trump at rallies and fawned over America's tinpot tyrant. Chancer Boris Johnson undid the signature achievement that was backing Ukraine in an otherwise sleazy, incompetent and corrupt Premiership by ignoring alarm bells to endorse his fellow great deceiver. Deranged Liz Truss cemented her descent into idiocy after that short-lived disastrous No 10 spell in falsely asserting the world would be safer with Trump in the Oval Office. Naive Kemi Badenoch bought a Trump stunt in McDonald's as proof he understood ordinary Americans' lives because she once temporarily worked in one of the corporation's burger bars. Shape-shifting Farage tribute act Robert Jenrick, currently plotting to seize Badenoch's Tory tarnished crown, actually boasted in August last year, he would vote for Trump if he could. Foot-in-mouther Suella Braverman was similarly gushing, the twice sacked Conservative former Home Secretary and onetime Reform potential recruit publicly declaring too she wanted Trump to be President. Tory posh disciple Jacob Rees-Mogg was so besotted he gushed he'd love to emulate Trump and - seriously! - 'build a wall in the middle of the English Channel' before Somerset gave the prat the boot. And then there is 30p Lee Anderson, another Reform pickup from the Tories, who strutted as the England's shouty Midlands version of the US Fat Cat tycoon. As we shudder at a Trump putty in Putin's hands, let us remember Desperate Donald's British acolytes also missold the expensive tragedy that is Brexit with special mention for generic Jenryk, an opportunist vocal convert since the 2016 referendum. Yanking Britain out of the European Union, the economy diving and migration jumping alongside longer passport queues, should be enough on its own for the above to never be gifted power in future. The fate of Ukraine, US President demanding Kyiv surrender when America would rightly never, for example, sign away Alaska or California if Putin occupied its territory, seals the ill-judgement of Britain's Trumpists. Labour PM Keir Starmer playing a difficult diplomatic hand is stomach-churning whenever he lauds Trump to sustain a bromance in the hope the UK can be a minor restraint. But send any of the true believers into Downing Street and regrets we'd quickly have a plenty, reduced to a 51st state. The Brextremists and Trumpists have proved their unfitness to govern Britain. Don't get me started on feather-bedded £3m landowners Wealthfare beneficiaries are loudly bemoaning again they may no longer be able to pocket nice fortunes without paying their fair dues to our country, a rich something-for-nothing brigade upset this time over speculation Rachel Reeves might shut a £2.1billion inheritance tax loophole. The cash slipped to dodge the duty by giving it away at least seven years before the owner shuffles off this mortal coil has soared 40% over five years. That's lost tax that could improve health and education, enforce law and order or fill potholes instead of cascading inequality and privilege through generations. Life's lottery winners who pay inheritance tax are fortunate when a couple can leave a fat million before it starts applying and don't get me started on feather-bedded £3m landowners and farmers. The Chancellor of the Exchequer may do nothing, intimidated by a self-serving backlash. That would be a pity. Jaundiced Jenkyns all over the place There's nothing like a dame when it's clueless Reform reactionary Dame Andrea Jenkyns, the former Boris Johnson Tory fan woman now the ultra-Conservative party's Greater Lincolnshire Mayor. Surely playing herself in an adults-only pantomime in the Grimsby Auditorium is next after frightening shallowness was exposed in a horror performance on Channel 4 News with Krishnan Guru Murthy. Jaundiced Jenkyns was all over the place when challenged how she'd deal practically with asylum seekers then collapsed completely when her interlocutor factually pointed out the vast majority of sexual crimes are committed by British-born people. Right-whingers like Jenkyns want to single out the ethnicity of suspects to fuel fires, not douse flames. As a grandfather of Southport victim Bebe King observed, mental health issues and poor educational attainment correlate with criminal convictions. Releasing school records might be more relevant. You got to be squidding us They say that if you lie down with dogs you catch fleas but holy carp when poor David Lammy's on the hook after fishing with bottom feeding American extremist JD Vance before buying a legally required rod licence. I bet he's let off with a slap on the wrist with a shop-bought dead old carp rather than netting the max £2,500 fine yet for heaven's hake the hapless Foreign Secretary's organisational skills are plankton level. Next time he needs to mussel up and tell a US Vice President who ain't no fintastic catch you got to be squidding us. Going up Now Labour's conscience, former leader Neil Kinnock reminding voters what the UK Government should do by proposing the end of a poverty-creating vile Tory two-child benefit cap after earlier championing a wealth tax is top trolling. Starmer must hate him. Going down UK trade envoys are political Mickey Mouse jobs but Manchester Rusholme MP Afzal Khan is more Goofy, forced to quit his Turkey sinecure after visiting the Turkish occupied northern Cyprus pariah state. Talk about failing to use his noggin. Speaker's corner 'I was never really one for posters because why would you ruin the wallpaper?' And I'm never really one to knock the young yet £400million Warwickshire council's 19-year-old student Reform leader George Finch - still living with his mam - never putting up a footballer, pop star or even a map in his bedroom is a taste of Hard Right weirdos who'd fill Parliament should Farage win an election.
