Important update on NFU mass lobby on November 19^th, and what comes next.

Since the Budget, the NFU has been working flat out to make the case to Treasury and wider government that the decision it has made to change Agriculture Property Relief and Business Property Relief must be over-turned, and to coral public and media support for farmers.

We believe the Treasury has built this policy on the wrong data and the changes it proposes will not deliver what it wants to achieve. It will not protect family farms, it will destroy them.

The shock and anger amongst members has been acute.

And it’s been heard. In just four days since it launched, our campaign to stop the family farm tax has secured the support of more than 150,000 people, and millions more are expressing their concern across social media. In the media there have been more than 2,500 stories across national, regional and local outlets. Broadcasters have carried the story strongly.

And behind the scenes we’ve represented members’ shock, anger and fear to ministers, along with the evidence of why this policy doesn’t work. Be in no doubt that ministers and MPs know how furious and betrayed people feel.

In the days before the Budget, we began to hear APR might be on the agenda, despite clear promises that it wouldn’t be. The NFU responded at speed, with members writing more than 3,600 letters to MPs, a social media campaign landing well and our case being laid before the Chancellor and the Prime Minister.

We also had to quickly plan for the worst. We began building plans for a mass lobby for 19 November, bringing members to London for meetings with their MPs, so that the government would be pressured by its own backbenchers. NFU Council agreed this was the way forward in an emergency meeting the morning after the budget.

Through this first event post-Budget, it’s vital that we leave MPs in no doubt that their constituents, their voters, won’t accept this and will hold them responsible. There must be a political price to pay for this decision. This mass lobby is about landing that message as we work to have this decision reversed.

Demand for this event has been amazing with 1,800 NFU members registering their intention to come; we’ve tripled our capacity in Church House from the original 600 (which is what the venue holds) to 1,800, via three rotations of 600, to ensure we can accommodate as many members as possible to the mass lobby, but we can’t make it any larger. More details will follow on logistics for the day.

There are legal issues which mean we can’t simply turn up in numbers in Westminster on the streets, or the open spaces. We cannot risk either member or public safety, or the loss of public support, that could come from what could be an illegal demonstration.

But far more than 1,800 NFU members want their voice to be heard, and rightly. The level of anger in the industry may never have been so high.

So whilst our mass lobby event is at capacity and we are asking members who have not registered not to do so now, we want this to be the first event, not the only event, where you can be heard.

If you’re not registered on the event, please don’t travel to London. There’s another opportunity to make clear how you feel.

We’ve always said this event was just the start of this fight. If the government listens to us, before or after the 19^th, we’ll all be relieved. But if it doesn’t, this event will be followed by another, at which farmers and growers will demonstrate how we feel about this devastating policy. If we need it, that will be our show of mass unity and strength.

If government continues to refuse to listen, this will be step two.

Ministers need to understand that we won’t get tired, that we won’t go away, that this campaign will go on for as long as this terrible decision stands. If they think we’ll give up, it just shows how much they don’t understand farmers.

So the message to you today is threefold.

First, thank you. Thank you for your passion, your support for your fellow farmers.

Second, if you’re not registered for the 19^th, please don’t think you have lost your chance to have your voice heard. If we don’t get the family farm tax scrapped before it, we need you to be ready to march. That is our moment to rally.

Between now and then you can really help by asking to meet your own MP and telling them what the IHT policy means for you, your family, your farm and your future. We must keep the pressure up.

And finally, we hope every day that the government does the right thing, but our message to them is we’re in the long fight. This tax cannot stand; for your sake, for your family’s sake, for farming’s sake and for Britain’s sake.