A petition launched just days ago urging the government to ditch its farm inheritance tax plans is on the march toward the 100,000 signatory milestone.
Signed by well over 70,000 people as of Monday morning (25 November), it warns the government that changing inheritance tax will 'devastate' family farms.
If the 100,000 signatory threshold is passed, the issue will be considered for debate in parliament itself.
The viral petition says that farming families would have to sell land and assets just to stay on their property if the tax goes ahead.
From April 2026, farms worth more than £1 million will incur a 20% inheritance tax charge, sparking fears over the future of Britain's family farms.
The highly controversial move, announced in the recent autumn budget, triggered a huge farmer rally in central London on Tuesday (19 November).
The protest also took place against continued high costs, tightening margins and uncertainty over future government policy.
The parliament.uk petition, created last week, easily surpassed the 10,000 barrier, which means the government must reply to it.
"We urge the government to keep the current exemptions for working farms," the petition reads, warning that changing tax relief for farms will 'devastate' them.
"We feel that passing farms through generations is essential to UK farming. Until now, inheritance tax exemptions have made this possible by allowing farmland to pass without taxation.
"Changes to inheritance tax will harm UK farming deeply, with some farmers predicting their families will be forced out within two generations."
It concludes: "We think the government is framing the policy around the targeting of rich landowners, but we believe this policy will affect farming families of all sizes."
