Gutted Jeremy Clarkson begs farmers 'just hold on for 5 years' after devastating budget

Jeremy Clarkson has hit back at Chancellor Rachel Reeves (Image: Getty)

Jeremy Clarkson has slammed Chancellor Rachel Reeves after she introduced what’s being called the biggest tax hikes in decades, leaving farmers and landowners fuming.

In a post online, The Clarkson’s Farm star minced no words, writing: “Rachel Reeves. I literally daren’t comment. We have a new government. It’s turning out to be hopeless.”

He since posted: "Farmers. I know that you have been shafted today. But please don’t despair. Just look after yourselves for five short years and this shower will be gone."

The budget announced by Reeves is set to raise £40 billion a year, largely through taxes aimed at businesses and high-value estates.

Farmers are especially in the crosshairs due to new inheritance tax rules, with David Eudall, AHDB economics & analysis director, explaining: “The impact of the changes to inheritance tax means that from April 2026, a farm worth £2 million will have a £100,000 tax requirement to pay on the £1 million above the threshold.”

The co-host of Amazon's The Grand Tour, also known for his years as a host on Top Gear, purchased his 1,000-acre Diddly Squat Farm in the Cotswolds in 2008, initially as an investment with no plans to actively farm it himself. However, in 2020, after the farm manager retired, Clarkson decided to take over and manage the farm himself, a decision that became the foundation for his Amazon Prime Video series, Clarkson’s Farm.

Rachel Reeves’ budget seeks to raise £40 billion annually through taxes (Image: Getty)

The show follows Clarkson’s journey as a novice farmer dealing with the unpredictable realities of agriculture, from managing crops to rearing livestock, all while navigating the bureaucratic and environmental challenges of modern farming.

But, like Clarkson, many in the farming world are seeing red. One user on X vented their frustration, saying, “Rachel Reeves had fu**ed all farmers, she has destroyed their ability to pass farms on to their children, and broken the future of all our great estates.”

They added: “It is an appalling decision which shows the government has ZERO understanding of what matters to rural voters.”

Experts say the tax changes will make it even harder for family farms to stay in the family. Andrew Entwistle, a partner at GFW, said: “The suggestion that most family farms won’t be affected because they aren’t worth over £1 million is, frankly, unrealistic.”

With farm values often around £3 million, he warned that many farms could face inheritance tax bills of roughly £400,000.

Clarkson purchased his 1,000-acre Diddly Squat Farm in the Cotswolds in 2008 (Image: Getty)

Meanwhile, Ben Sharples from law firm Michelmores called the new rules a “hammer blow to the ambition of maintaining viable farms.” He explained that the £1 million exemption “is not going to go very far when considering land values of £10,000 per acre, never mind the value of farmhouses and buildings.”

Country Land and Business Association (CLA) president Victoria Vyvyan added that the government will cause great damage, “jeopardising the future of rural businesses up and down the country.”

“Many farmers, operating on slim margins, will now face having to sell land to pay inheritance taxes.

“At a time of profound change in the industry, adjusting to new agricultural policies, the government is offering no vision for a positive economic future for us in the rural community,” she concluded.