Environment Minister rejects commitment to agricultural funding before budget decision

Environment ministers declined to comment on whether farmers would miss out on £130 million in funding that the previous government did not spend in 2023/24.

Speaking at the House of Commons lectern, Environment Minister Steve Reed said he would “get into big trouble with the Chancellor (Rachel Reed)” if he presented his department's budget plans before October 30.

The Labour minister also answered questions about sewage discharges and accused the previous Conservative government of a “cover-up” of the amount of sewage entering rivers and seas.

“My intention is to advocate for farmers' interests through the spending review process so that we can ensure they get the funding they deserve,” Reed told MPs.

He had previously said: “I cannot comment on the budget in advance.

“I would get into a lot of trouble with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and I want to avoid that. But we will make it absolutely clear what we are planning in due course.”

Sarah Dyke, Liberal Democrat MP for Glastonbury and Somerton, told the House of Commons that farmers in the west of the country were “concerned that £130 million of support will be cut just because the previous government replaced the basic payment system with systems that were simply too complicated for many farmers”.

She asked Mr Reed to reassure her “that he will not cut their funding and will give farmers the confidence they need to invest in the future and ensure the country's food security.”

Several other MPs urged Reed to confirm his ministry's spending plans. Among them was Harriet Cross, Conservative MP for Gordon and Buchan near Aberdeen. She said: “The Labour manifesto rightly states that the Labour Party recognises 'that food security is national security' and I agree with that. But these words must be backed up by actions.”

Ms Cross asked: “Can the Minister now confirm that there will be no real cuts to the agricultural budget?”

The Environment Minister replied: ‘As you will be aware, a process to review expenditure is currently underway.

“This will culminate in announcements in the budget and that is when all this will be made clear.

“But I would gently remind them that it was their Government that under-spended the agriculture budget by £130 million in the last financial year.

“This money should have gone into the pockets of farmers who desperately need it to do their work, to give us the food we want to eat and to help nature recover. And yet the government was too incompetent to pay it out.

“This government will ensure that the money allocated to farmers also benefits the farmers so that they can use it for the intended purposes.”

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay, who represents the Waveney Valley constituency which stretches across Norfolk and Suffolk, urged the government to provide funding for environmentally friendly farming.

“Any cuts to the organic farming programme would be a blow to farmers and to the government's climate and conservation efforts,” he told MPs.

“The budget for environmentally friendly agriculture must not only be maintained but increased.”

The RSPB, National Trust and The Wildlife Trusts said in August that investment in nature-friendly farming across the UK needed to increase from around £3.5 billion to £5.9 billion a year, otherwise “we will fail to meet legally binding nature and climate targets and miss a huge opportunity to improve the long-term resilience of UK farming”.

Mr Reed reiterated that the Government would disclose its spending plans in the budget.

On water, Conservative Shadow Environment Secretary Robbie Moore pressed the government on whether it intended to grant water companies “regulatory relief”, such as “permission to lower standards, relax environmental permits or reduce agreed investment levels”, but warned against doing so.

The Environment Minister responded that “regulation must be as strict as possible to ensure that practices and, frankly, abuses that occurred in the past cannot occur again.”

He added: “It was very disappointing when the Shadow Minister, during his time in office, attempted to cover up the scale of the sewage disasters before the election by asking Environment Agency officials not to publish key figures on the front page of the Environment Portal.”

Spokesman Sir Lindsay Hoyle intervened, saying: “Can I just say, 'He was trying to cover something up'? That suggests a member is lying.”

Mr Reed then said: “I take back that comment. Perhaps I should have said that he could have been more open and transparent.”

He later claimed that the Water (Special Measures) Act “increases” regulation of water companies.