Tories urge Government not to cut farming fund

Four former Conservative environment secretaries have warned Labour against cutting a fund that pays farmers to plant trees and improve water and soil quality. 

The Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) was devised following Brexit to replace the EU’s common agricultural policy. Earlier this month it was reported that Labour ministers were planning to cut the fund by £100m. 

Former ministers — Michael Gove, Andrea Leadsom, Thérèse Coffey and Theresa Villiers — said the scheme had become “increasingly popular” and urged Labour to keep the farming budget intact. In January 2022, the Public Accounts Committee criticised the scheme for failing to allow farmers to take advantage of the money available. This is seen as a key reason behind the recently confirmed £358m underspend in the agricultural budget across the past three years. 

Professional hedge-layer and author Richard Negus told ST: “Energy Minister Ed Milliband has made it abundantly clear that the new Labour Government is fixated on carbon neutrality, not nature recovery. I expect to see not only a £100million cut in the Defra budget, but also a further loss of around £360million, which was underspent under the Conservatives’ tenure. Nature needs politicians like a hole in the head.”