When protesters take to the streets it is always a gamble.

The key question is whether the impact exceeds criticism of the disruption

– and whether the long-term outcomes advance the cause and change policy.

However, when it came to the mean-spirited, unfair, virtue-signalling change to inheritance tax by the UK Government there was, quite rightly, no way to contain official and unofficial farmer anger.

Protests on a big enough scale can have an impact. We have seen this first-hand in Europe. The mass protests by farmers across many EU member states secured a big change of heart in Brussels. Crucially, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, backed farmers and promised policies to deliver a more farmer-friendly, less bureaucratic CAP.

To that has been added a shift to ease green diktats, while the new EU farm commissioner, Luxembourg’s Christophe Hansen, has committed to returning respect and dignity to farmers as well as a drive to get more young people into the industry. This was a good outcome from protests that won a reasonable degree of public support, because they minimised disruption and secured backing for the message that farmers were victims of unfair treatment by Brussels and a dysfunctional food chain.

So if the EC can be made to roll over and see logic, can the same be achieved here against a Budget that is bad and illogical in so many ways? There was a poorly thought out Budget by a party seemingly struggling to understand the difference between being in opposition and being in government.

Since the Budget, inflation has ticked back up. UK economic growth is non-existent and higher prices will be the result of increased national insurance contributions for employers. It is a Budget unfair by any standards and not only for farmers. It is understandable that the Chancellor should defend her Budget, but Keir Starmer has made the mistake of backing her, rejecting all opportunities to even hint at looking again at this unfair change to tax rules. He has alienated rural communities of which he has demonstrated scant knowledge.

He is taxing an asset delivering a return of less than 1%, while presiding over an economy that will see inflation rise as a direct result of the Budget. Above all, he is showing lamentable political judgment over a £500m tax change in a £40bn tax-take Budget, to shore up a ‘black hole’ half that size left by the Conservative government. In return, he is surrounded by the harsh truth about food security – no land, no farmers, no food. The solution is easy – meet farmers, hear their concerns and increase the trigger for the tax to £3m or £4m. That would take family farms out of the equation, but not those using farm land to avoid inheritance tax.