'No farmers, no food' - Farmers to stage protest in Shrewsbury ahead of local election

Organised by the Farmers to Action campaign group, farmers are planning to do laps around the county town in their tractors - tooting their horns and displaying banners - in a bid to ramp up efforts to stop the 'family farm tax' changes to inheritance tax.

The demonstration follows a protest in central Telford last month where farmers from across Shropshire rode their tractors along Lawn Central outside Telford & Wrekin Council's base.

Farmers have expressed their outrage at the Government's planned changes to inheritance tax and controversial decision to scrap a farming payment scheme.

Banners at the protest in Telford read 'Britain needs food security' and called for the Government to 'abolish inheritance tax'.

However, one message is central to their demonstrations - 'no farmers, no food'.

Alan Hughes from the campaign group has organised the demonstration, and said: "It will be a day before the local elections in Shrewsbury and we will be doing it in other sites where there are local elections around the country to highlight to the public the disastrous job this Government is doing and running everything into the ground. As well as farmers which is a poor industry, all other industries are suffering.

"We are going to do something every month. Once the local elections are out of the way we will still be putting pressure on Labour and looking at more and different ways to apply pressure because we don't want it to get stale."