Farmers crawl up major roads across Derbyshire in inheritance tax protest

More than a hundred farmers slowed traffic across Derbyshire on Wednesday (December 11) as a part of their "go-slow" drive in protest against the government's inheritance tax changes.

Last month Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced significant tax changes that have caused thousands of farmers across the country to protest.

The policy change would mean that inherited farms with agricultural assets over £1m would be taxed 25% from April 2026. Initially the government expected that these changes would only affect about 2,000 estates each year.

Similar protests have been happening across the country, with the “go-slow” campaign gaining traction in a number of areas whilst convoys of farmers still continue to protest outside Westminster and the Houses of Parliament.

Ben Ardern, a Derbyshire dairy farmer, organised Derbyshire's "go-slow" demonstration. Starting from Bakewell, the farmers travelled up the busy A6 at 20mph, slowing down the dual carriageway as they made their way to Chesterfield via the A61. The protest then carried on to Matlock before making their way back to Bakewell.

Mr Ardern, 22, runs a 1,000-acre dairy farm with over 250 cows, which, under the new government proposals, would be hit hard by the introduction of the new inheritance tax changes.

Ben said: “The government keeps throwing things on us, it’s not just that for me. They have been completely wrong in who they are targeting, like the winter fuel tax. We are asset rich but we are cash poor. We have some fancy tractors but we barely turn anything over.

“They are ruining family farms. We just want the government to admit that they have gone wrong. We had well over a hundred tractors out today with us, we have had great support from the public and even from the people that we have been holding up.

“We don’t do it for profit, we do it because it’s what we know. It’s been in the family for years. They would be taxing us more than we turn over which would mean that we would have to sell up land, sell animals and it would turn all family farms into industrial farms. Everyone you talk to is in the same situation. I’ve heard of some farms closing up and some farmers committing suicide as a result of it.”