REFORM UK leader Nigel Farage perpetuated a far-right conspiracy theory by including it in a speech to farmers at a protest earlier this week.
The tractor rally, organised by Save British Farming alongside anti-vax campaign group Together Declaration, came as farmers continue their campaign against changes to inheritance tax rules.
Labour have insisted they will not make a U-turn on plans to introduce a 20% inheritance tax rate on farms worth more than £1 million.
Speaking at the event in north London, Farage said the Labour Government had a “sinister agenda” to obtain “lots of land because they’re planning for another five million people to come into the country”.
His comments echo those from TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson, who previously wrote in The Sun 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.”
Donald Trump has also cited the theory, which has been dubbed The Great Replacement. The theory summarises suspicions that progressive immigration policies aim to replace white people in the west.
There is no evidence supporting the claim, and the Southern Poverty Law Centre describes it as “racist” and “inherently white supremacist.”
Regional chairman for the National Farmers Union (NFU) Joe Stanley said he was “disgusted” by Farage’s claims, adding that farmers were becoming “an increasingly fertile ground for the far-right”.
He added: “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.
“It will end in disaster because populism always does, but I don’t blame farmers for desperately looking for answers."
Justin Rogers, who co-founded Farmers to Action, made a speech after Farage and claimed farmers faced “anti-farming policies” including “net zero, solar panels, rewilding”.
Rogers also claimed on Twitter/X in 2024 that “there is no climate change!! Just a narrative of control.”
Reform would abolish the “appalling family farms tax”, which the UK Government has introduced alongside all inheritance tax, Richard Tice told reporters at a central London press conference on Wednesday following the rally.
