Tractors crawl through York as farmers protest inheritance tax changes

A convoy of tractors caused congestion on York's streets as farmers staged a protest against planned changes to inheritance tax rules.

Farmers on board more than 100 tractors gathered at York Livestock Centre on Wednesday morning before driving along the city's ring road to York Minster.

It coincided with similar rallies in London and elsewhere following an announcement by Chancellor Rachel Reeves that inheritance tax of 20% will apply to combined agricultural and business property worth more than £1million.

Among those at the protest was Angus Gowthorpe, who owns a farm near York. He said: "The proposed changes to inheritance tax have completely blown apart our business plans.

"If they come in as they are currently proposed to we'll have a tax bill to pay of around £1million.

"Food is very, very cheap in this country. To get the levels we would need to pay the inheritance tax they are proposing, we would need to double the price of what we are selling. That would knock on to the consumers."

While the standard rate of inheritance tax applied to other land and property is 40%, farms are currently exempt.

But changes due to come into force from April 2026 mean the full 100% relief would be limited to the first £1million of a farm's value.

The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) claims only around 500 farms will be affected by the changes and that £343million had been ploughed into the rural economy, benefiting more than 31,000 farmers.

But farmers' groups say many more are facing hardship and are escalating protests against the measure.

The tractors in York bore placards with slogans like "no farmers no food" and "the end is Keir for family farms".

East Yorkshire farmer Anna Longthorp said: "It's affecting all of us, despite what the government are saying. We want to stand together in solidarity, we want to make this government aware and understand that we will not stop until they fully reverse this inheritance tax."

She said the changes would mean having to "sell off assets to pay the bill".

"The tragedy and the crudeness of the policy is that if something devastating happens like if I were to die early - I'm a single mother - and leave my son without parents he would be left with an inheritance tax bill," she added.

"It's taxing tragic circumstances.

"Farms are quite unique in that as a sector we need land which is very valuable to produce food. That's not our fault, it's just a fact. We need valuable kit. We are price takers rather than price makers, so we don't have any control over the price we receive.

"Some years we might make a profit, some years we will lose money and we accept that because it's a way of life, it's not a job... But the inheritance tax thing helps us provide for the future generations and allows us to pass the business on. This will destroy family farms."

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