Thank you for contacting me about the Government’s commitments to farming and nature.
I would like to assure you that claims that the Government is rowing back on commitments to our farming reforms or nature are untrue.
Now that we are outside of the European Union, the UK is free from the Common Agricultural Policy, which did little to deliver for farmers, farming or the environment. The Government was elected on a manifesto that pledged to maintain the budget for farming but spend it in a way that does better for farming and nature.
My ministerial colleagues and I want to support the choices that individual farmers make for their farms, boost food production and agricultural productivity. This will bolster the rural economy and support communities across the country. Ministers are rolling out new schemes which will support farmers to both produce high-quality food and enhance the natural environment.
Further, the Environment Act 2021 includes a commitment to halt the decline of nature by 2030. This Government will never undermine its commitments to the environment in pursuit of growth. Any reforms will rightly contribute to growing our economy in equal step with successfully meeting our commitments in the 25 Year Environment Plan and the legally binding environmental targets through this Act.
Internationally, the UK has committed to protect 30 per cent of its land and ocean by 2030, through the Leaders Pledge for Nature, which committed to putting nature and biodiversity globally on a road to recovery by 2030.
We have the chance to have a farming industry that is more independent and resilient. It will be an industry that champions economic growth and increases domestic production while returning nature to the land and improving the natural assets that support food production, such as high-quality soil.
The work done by this Conservative Government on the environment is proofed, and the strongest in decades. The Environment Bill will do more to improve the UK’s environment than any single measure in decades.
More generally, I am keen to see greater landscape protection for the Island. I have set out to the Government my vision for the Island to have the UK’s first ‘Island Park’ which would see the Island gain unique protection status somewhere between that of an AONB and a National Park.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.