Farmers in the UK blocked the port at Holyhead on Wednesday night in a continuation of protests against the planned introduction of an inheritance tax by the Labour government.

At the port in northern Wales, the main port serving Ireland, farmers conducted a slow-drive tractorcade, before blocking the port for a time late on Wednesday night into the early hours of Thursday morning.

The line of tractors continued down the A55, the main access route to the port.

Tractors at the peaceful protest displayed signs in both Welsh and English saying “enough is enough - no farmers, no food”.

Lorries waiting to cross to Ireland queued for a number of hours until the protest cleared in the early hours of the morning.

Dover

In Dover, outside Kent, farmers held a similar tractorcade protest on Wednesday also. The tractors drove through the town of Dover slowly, alongside lorries.

The tractors had signs which included messages such as “back British farmers”, “no farmers, no food, no future” and “stop standard imports”.

The impact the blocked roads had on the port of Dover, the UK’s busiest international ferry port, is unclear at present.

Scotland

Meanwhile, the National Farmers Union (NFU) Scotland, held a rally on Thursday 28 November at Holyrood from 11.30am to 2pm.

The NFU Scotland said farmers gathered outside Holyrood - the location of the Scottish parliament - to urge the government to deliver for the future of farming in its budget, to be announced next Wednesday 4 December.

This comes following funding responsibilities for agricultural and rural policy being now entirely devolved to the Scottish government.

In a statement, NFU Scotland said: “For the 2025/26 fiscal year, the Scottish government will receive an increased block grant from Westminster, including the £620m previously ring-fenced for the agriculture and rural economy portfolio.

“While the £620m has been rolled over, it is no longer ring-fenced, leaving its allocation entirely at the discretion of the Scottish government.”

Many farmers gathered also protested against the planned tax, with posters saying “fight the tax, save our farms”.

Previous protests

This comes following thousands of farmers protesting in London last week in London - including a Northern Ireland contingent.

Separately, an estimated 6,000 farmers attended an Ulster Farmers Union (UFU) rally on the inheritance tax last week also.

The controversial changes to agricultural property relief for inheritance tax were announced last month and are due to come into effect across the UK from April 2026.

It will see a tax-free threshold of £1m (€1.2m) for agricultural properties, with a 20% tax rate applying to the value of assets after that.