Pictures and video: Farmers take over Banbury town centre in protest at the government's inheritance tax plans

Around 20 tractors and several pickup trucks blaring horns and playing sirens drove around Banbury Cross before parking up outside the town hall at 3pm today (April 11).

The group, which was made up of farmers from around the county, had started their day of action outside County Hall in Oxford before making their way up to Banbury.

Crowds of shoppers and passers-by greeted the noisy convey as it slowly made its way through town before stopping in the centre.

The protest was organised by the Farmers To Action group, who also held a similar protest in Oxford and Banbury on March 25.

The farmers believe that their industry is being put at risk by taxes being implemented by the current Labour government.

Speaking on behalf of the farmers, Andy Corner, an arable farmer from Somerton, said: “We have come out today just to spread awareness; the public are very much on our side, as you can tell.

“The Labour Party haven’t done what they said they would do, and they are about to destroy a lot of the family farms, and we want to keep them.

“We are happy to pay tax if we make money, but we really don’t make much money at all. To tax us on what we have when we die is going to destroy our family's livelihood.

“My farm would probably have to be sold because my family would never be able to pay the tax. We want to lead the public to make a decision so they will vote Labour out in the future.”

Currently farmers are almost entirely exempt from inheritance tax and have been able to use a combination of financial measures to pass on their land and their businesses to family members tax-free.

However, under the new government plans, these reliefs will be capped at £1,000,000, meaning farmland and farm assets over that value will be subject to inheritance tax at 20 per cent. The Labour government says that the vast majority of farms will be unaffected – a claim disputed by farmers.