PETA protesters storm National Farmers’ Union conference to demand end to non-vegan government subsidies while farmers are already reeling from inheritance tax raid_Nhy
PETA protesters have stormed the National Farmers’ Union conference to call on the Government to support plant-based farming.
Two eco-activists, wearing carrot masks, crashed the conference while NFU president Tom Bradshaw was giving a speech to members of the embattled sector.
The pair jumped onto the stage with a banner which said ‘Root for the planet! Go vegan.’
One of the two female activists was met with groans as she shouted: ‘Root for the planet. Farming animals is unsustainable, we must switch to plant-based.’
A member of the crowd was then cheered as he leapt on stage and ripped the banner from their hands.
It comes as farmers are already reeling from Labour‘s inheritance tax raid, with the NFU claiming many will be forced to sell off businesses that have been in their families for generations.
Farmers have blockaded Whitehall with their tractors in protest at the changes which include imposing a 20 per cent inheritance tax on farms, reversing a previous exemption.
Tractors were lined up outside the conference at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster, central London, today as anger at Chancellor Rachel Reeves‘ Budget continues to mount.
Sharing the footage of the protest on X, PETA said: ‘Animal agriculture gobbles up resources, pollutes the planet, and kills over 1 BILLION animals in the UK every year.
PETA protesters have stormed the National Farmers’ Union conference to call on the Government to support plant-based farming
A member of the crowd was cheered as he leapt on stage and ripped the banner from their hands
Farmers display toy tractors outside the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster in protest against inheritance tax during the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) conference
‘Yet the government continues to prop up this cruel, destructive system instead of investing in sustainable, life-giving plant farming.’
On a tense day in Westminster, Environment Secretary Steve Reed was heckled as he revealed new plans to farmers.
He was briefly interrupted by a silent protest at the front of the room, with farmers holding up banners in response to his comments about the inheritance tax changes.
He told the conference: ‘Even if the conversation gets difficult, I will always show up to have it, because I respect this union and respect British farming.
‘Now I can’t give the answer I know many of you want on inheritance tax, but I want you to know that I understand the strength of feeling in the room and in the sector,’ he said.
‘I’m sorry it’s a decision that we’ve had to take,’ he said.
He outlined plans for a 25-year farming roadmap and food strategy, which put food production at its core and makes farm businesses more resilient to shocks such as severe flooding, drought and animal disease.
And it will ensure farming is a ‘sector which recognises restoring nature is not in competition with sustainable food production, but is essential to it’, he said.
Farmers park tractors outside the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster in protest against inheritance tax during the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) conference
As farmers outside the conference centre in central London sounded their tractor horns, he announced measures including extending the seasonal worker visa scheme for five years, support for precision breeding and new technology.
He also announced new requirements for government catering contracts to favour ‘high quality, high welfare products that British producers are well placed to meet’.
And he said: ‘Ours is an outward-facing trading nation, but I want to be clear that we will never lower our food standards in trade agreements.
‘We will promote robust standards nationally and internationally, and will always consider whether overseas produce has an unfair advantage.’
Mr Reed said 50,000 farm businesses were now in environmental management schemes and around half of farmland in England was being managed to enhance nature while producing food.
He announced £30 million to increase payment rates in higher level stewardship schemes.
After his speech, Mr Reed was heckled and repeatedly challenged in a question-and-answer session over farmers who thought the best tax planning was to die before the inheritance tax changes came into effect in April 2026.
‘I’m really sorry about the individual circumstances, but it’s very difficult for the secretary of state to comment on individual circumstances,’ he said.
He pointed to the financial ‘black hole’ the Government inherited and the need to stabilise the economy, not just for farming but the whole economy.
‘I’ve explained to you why we had to take a decision that I know has been very, very difficult but we will focus on making farms more profitable, because that seems to me, the problem at the heart of the crisis in the sector.’
There have been months of demonstrations by farmers in response to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ tax raid, including tractor protests in Westminster
Challenged on whether the land use framework under development will lead to 9% of land being taken out of agricultural production, Mr Reed said: ‘No one is going to force anyone to take anything out of agricultural production or do something else with it.
‘What it will do is it will provide much better information to landowners so they can take the best decision for how they want to to use that land.
‘For instance, you know, I’ve had people ask me questions at events like this before about solar farms on prime agricultural land, it will help us to prevent that happening, and help us to protect prime agricultural land for food production.
‘If you don’t have a system to provide guidance on the best use particular bits of land, you have a hazard system, and that means the outcomes you get aren’t necessarily the outcomes that you that you want,’ he said.
It comes as Britain’s biggest business lobby group, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is set to warn Labour: ‘You can’t grow without food.’
CBI chief executive Rain Newton-Smith is set to tell the conference the government’s growth plan is right to target ‘glitzy’ sectors such as clean energy, advanced manufacturing and life sciences.
But ministers must not forget other ‘foundational’ industries that underpin the economy such as chemicals, logistics and minerals, she argues.
‘Any growth plan will tumble, any industrial strategy will fall at the first hurdle… if we don’t first back our foundational sectors,’ Ms Newton-Smith will say.
‘Farming is a vital part of the everyday economy – the true job creators and community builders that prop up our whole economy.’You can’t get growth unless you start by backing sectors like this.’
And Ms Newton-Smith will say the confidence needed to boost investment in farming has been lacking amid the ‘many challenges’ it faces including the Budget changes which the NFU has said could affect 75 per cent of farms.
Ms Newton-Smith’s intervention will underline the idea that the farming sector is vital to the government’s aim of revitalising the economy.
Labour’s growth agenda is already struggling badly, with the economy stagnating over its first six months in power.
And the government’s decision to hike employers’ national insurance contributions, as well as imposing a raft of new workers’ rights, has caused business confidence to crumble.
