HUNDREDS of people attended an agricultural rally near Cirencester today at which recent government changes affecting farms were described as 'an ignorant, iniquitous attack on the countryside'.

The sound of cattle could be heard as attendees gathered amid snowy conditions for the Back British Farming Rally at Cotswold Agricultural Centre today, Tuesday, November 19.

The crowd heard speeches from Julia Judd, councillor for the Ermin ward at Cotswold District Council, as well as farmers Emma Smith and John White at the centre in Driffield Road.

Attendees had gathered after the government unveiled inheritance tax changes that affect farms in the Budget in October.

Ms Judd said that the slashing of rates of agricultural property relief and business property relief for inherited farms and land 'will inflict permanent damage on our rural economy'.

"Labour has gone back on its pre-election promise to leave farms out of IHT reform, and this inheritance tax burden will affect hardworking family farms up and down the country," she said.

"It will be a catastrophic drain on the rural dynamic.

"It’s an ignorant, iniquitous attack on the countryside."

The rally came amid a protest by farmers in Westminster in relation to inheritance tax changes unveiled in the recent Budget in October.

Agricultural property relief has enabled small family farms to be exempt from inheritance tax since APR was brought in in 1984.

However, from April 2026, inherited agricultural assets worth over £1 million will be liable to the tax at 20 per cent.

Ms Judd said at the rally near Cirencester that everyone will be affected by the changes.

"We don't have to be farmers to be affected by this problem," she said.

"Food prices will increase, and food security is at risk.

"The farmers I know have found creative ways to stay afloat, either by creating new business ventures or repurposing their farm buildings, or doing two or three or sometimes four jobs.

"The one thing they have all in common is that they make extraordinary little, if any, income from their main purpose - creating food.

"Farmers are the unpaid caretakers of our landscapes and a vital support to our communities."

Ms Smith, a cattle farmer from Minety, said: "We are not necessarily angry, just more upset and broken.

"This industry is potentially on its knees, and the latest government developments have given us the final blow.

"The countryside is more than fields and tweed - it is a lifeline to so many individuals.

"Increasing inflation, adverse weather conditions and rising production costs have all played a part in the demise of the family farm, and this last move of the tax change is devastating to all those concerned.

"The loss of these farms will result in less good-quality, high-welfare food on our plates.”

Mr White, who farms on the edge of the Marlborough Downs, said: "I have been farming since 1966.

"We will no longer have a viable farm.

"In over 100 years, this is the biggest threat our family farm has ever had to face.

"I am angry and I feel betrayed, and it's up to this government to listen to what we've got to say."

Attendees came to the rally for different reasons.

Catriona Stewart, from Cirencester, told the Standard: "I'm here to support our farmers.

"They're the backbone of the nation, and without them, we would have nothing."

Another attendee, Bridget Cross, who lives near Malmesbury, noted that her and her sisters have inherited a farm from her parents, but 'it does not make any of us any money'.

"We're all very lucky that we've got outside interests, because if we were relying on that farm to survive, we couldn't," she said.

Writing on social media on Tuesday, South Cotswolds MP Roz Savage said: "Today, I had the pleasure of meeting with seven farmers from our constituency to discuss the family farm tax and its impact on farmers here in the South Cotswolds and across the United Kingdom.

"I’ve pledged my unwavering support for our farming community.

"This is an issue I’ve already raised in the Chamber, and I will continue to apply pressure on the government to repeal this tax.

"Farmers are the backbone of our rural economy, and I’m committed to standing with them every step of the way."

Meanwhile, North Cotswolds MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said on social media on Tuesday: "Today, I met farmers from my constituency, the North Cotswolds, who came up to Westminster to express their anger at the Labour government's short-sighted changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief.

"I listened to their worries about not only the future of their own farms, but also the wider fate of farming in Britain, which is now under threat.

"I will do all I can to stop these changes to protect our countryside."

National Farmers' Union president Tom Bradshaw told members gathered for a mass lobby of their MPs over the changes to inheritance tax for farming businesses that the policy 'will rip the heart of family farms'.

Mr Bradshaw received a standing ovation from the gathered farmers after his impassioned speech, in which he said an estimated 75 per cent of commercial farm businesses 'were caught in the eye of this storm' of a policy which he described as a 'stab in the back'.

He warned the inheritance tax change was the straw that broke the camel’s back, along with a host of issues in the Budget, and said: "The impact for retail prices and shelf prices is going to have to be dramatic.

"It’s an inflationary budget for food production, and you in this group have nothing left to give.

"It’s been nothing but a bad Budget, and I’ve never seen anything like it in my lifetime."

Asked whether farmers protesting in Westminster had misunderstood the government’s policy, a Number 10 spokesperson said: "Farmers are the stewards of our countryside, and we do not underestimate their important contribution to the economy and also our rural economy.

"The Prime Minister has spoken about his personal commitment to farmers, evident from the increased £5 billion support we’ve committed over two years in the Budget.

"When it comes to the decisions that we’ve taken, we’ve not taken these lightly, but the government inherited a £22 billion black hole in the public finances and we had to take difficult decisions to rebalance the public finances and also ensure we're supporting the public services that everyone relies on - farmers and families in rural communities included.

“As to the changes, we maintain that they are balanced and proportionate and that only around 500 claims a year are expected to be affected.

"We don’t underestimate the concerns and the strength of feeling, and we want to continue to have a dialogue with farmers."