Reform UK leader Nigel Farage endorsed a conspiracy theory popular among the far-right during a speech at a farmers’ protest on Monday (10 February), DeSmog can reveal

Thousands of farmers descended on London to oppose plans to reduce the threshold for paying inheritance tax on land to £1 million, which critics say could force some family farms to sell their land.

Speaking in front of around 50 tractors at Belmont Farm in North London, Farage insinuated that the Labour government had a “sinister agenda” to acquire “lots of land because they’re planning for another five million people to come into the country”. 

Farage’s comments appear to reference the unfounded conspiracy theory that governments are seizing land from farmers to house migrants, which has been spread by far-right commentators in Europe.

In November, DeSmog reported that TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson had also made apparent references to the conspiracy theory – which seems to be gaining growing traction in the UK – writing in The Sun newspaper, that he was “convinced” that Labour had a “sinister plan” to “ethnically cleanse the countryside of farmers” to make room for “immigrants and net zero wind farms.” 

This claim is borne from the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, which holds that progressive immigration policies are a mechanism to replace white people in the West, and has been cited by Donald Trump in recent months. There is no evidence supporting this theory, and the civil rights group the Southern Poverty Law Centre describes it as “racist” and “inherently white supremacist.”

Joe Stanley, a farmer from Leicestershire and regional chairman for the National Farmers Union (NFU), said he was “disgusted” by Farage’s claims but told DeSmog farmers were becoming “an increasingly fertile ground for the far-right” due to the failures of successive Labour and Conservative policies. 

“Farmers feel so completely betrayed by the mainstream political parties of both colours, they are understandably veering off into the populist right-wing world of conspiracy theories and extremism,” he said. 

“It will end in disaster because populism always does, but I don’t blame farmers for desperately looking for answers,” he added. 

The Organisers

Monday’s event, which preceded over a thousand tractors descending on Westminster, was organised by the anti-vax campaign group Together Declaration and the protest organisation Farmers To Action. 

Set up in 2021 to oppose mandatory Covid-19 protection measures, such as lockdowns and vaccines, the Together Declaration has since launched a “no to net zero” campaign that calls for the UK to scrap policies designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions. 

Together has also campaigned against London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone scheme, and low traffic neighbourhood schemes across the country designed to combat air pollution. 

The group has recently partnered with Farmers To Action, which has used recent anti-inheritance tax campaigns to spread anti-climate views.

The leader of Farmers to Action, Justin Rogers, has spread conspiracy theories across his social media accounts. He has claimed that “climate change is one of the biggest scams that has ever been told”, propagated by “our governments and their puppet masters.” 

Rogers has also claimed that oil and gas are renewable, and that carbon dioxide cannot be dangerous because it “feeds plants”. 

Farage, who has repeatedly claimed that climate science is not settled, told the event on Monday that Labour was potentially hoping “to cover tens of thousands of grade one agricultural land in places like Lincolnshire with solar panels”.

Lincolnshire will see major elections in May, where Reform plans to contest all 70 city council seats and hopes to see former Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns voted as the region’s first elected mayor. 

Reform, which is currently one of the highest polling parties in the UK, has vowed to scrap net zero and claimed in its 2024 manifesto that “scientists disagree” on the extent of man-made climate change. There is an overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is caused by human activity – similar to that on evolution.

On Wednesday (12 February), the party announced that it would introduce a “windfall tax” on renewables if elected, adding that farmers who install solar panels on their land would not be able to claim any inheritance tax relief. 

Monday’s wider protests in Westminster were attended by Rupert Lowe, Reform’s spokesman for business and agriculture, alongside the party’s deputy leader Richard Tice – a multi-million pound property developer, who has called climate science a “hoax”.

Reform received more than £2.3 million from oil and gas interests, highly polluting industries, and climate science deniers between December 2019 and June 2024, amounting to 92 percent of the party’s donations during the period.

Reform, Together, and Farmers to Action were approached for comment. 

Farmers to Action

Justin Rogers, who co-founded Farmers to Action along with PR executive Tarquin de Meza, took to the stage after Farage on Monday. 

Rogers claimed that farmers were facing an “existential threat” from “anti-farming policies” including “net zero, solar panels, rewilding”. 

Last year British farmers saw their second worst harvest in four decades, following record-breaking rainfall over the previous 18 months, a growing threat due to climate change. Farage’s own constituency of Clacton-on-Sea faces threats from flooding and sea level rises due to global warming.

One farmer at the event used his speech to claim that Labour’s plan to increase inheritance tax on some farmers was “designed to pave the way for corporate dominance”.

“Starmer along with many Western leaders has been bought and paid for by the global elites”, he said. 

Rogers claimed in his address that Farmers To Action had 6,000 active members across 47 counties, with 100 organisers. 

In a video on his social media, Rogers criticises “greedy governments and corporations,” and says “they really do like to get their shekels”, a reference to Israel’s currency. This claim repeats an anti-semitic trope accusing governments of being controlled by a shady Jewish cabal.

Rogers also claimed on X in 2024 that “there is no climate change!! Just a narrative of control.”

Other speakers at Monday’s event included June Mummery, Reform UK’s spokesperson for fisheries, Adam Brooks, a right-wing influencer and panellist for GB News, and Liam Halligan, a former GB News editor and columnist for The Telegraph. 

Mummery used her speech to call on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to “scrap inheritance tax for all.” 

Tom Lancaster, land, food and farming analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said: “The government’s reforms to inheritance tax relief for agricultural property have undoubtedly soured their relationship with farmers. They will make it harder to have a conversation with farmers about wider environmental goals, and do little to reduce non-agricultural investors buying farmland, which will remain an attractive tax shelter.

“What these changes are not likely to do though is reduce the amount of farmed land in this country. When a farmer has to sell land to pay an inheritance tax bill, the most likely buyer will be another farmer in a better position to manage their tax liabilities, or someone intending to let land for agricultural use.”