Tories considering scrapping Natural England and the Environment Agency for 'harming rural communities'
The Conservatives would consider axing quangos like Natural England and the Environment Agency as they are “working against” rural communities, Victoria Atkins has said.
The Shadow Environment Secretary termed Labour’s farming policies an “assault on the countryside” at the Conservative Party Conference yesterday, as activists surrounding her held placards calling Sir Keir Starmer a “farmer harmer”.
Ms Atkins hit out at the so-called “family farm tax”, which will introduce an inheritance levy on farmers handing down their business through the generations for the first time in April next year.
Wearing a Union flag blazer and standing in front of a JCB tractor, she claimed to the impromptu rally at the party’s conference in Manchester that farmers have taken their lives or refused cancer treatment to avoid this.
Ms Atkins also announced that if the Conservatives got into power she would review the 34 quangos - government-linked public organisations - that work with the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
In particular, the shadow secretary cited the Environment Agency and Natural England, which have been accused of being “anti-farming” in recent years.
Ms Atkins said: “This system of 34 quangos that regulate our land, our water and our food led by Natural England and the Environment Agency is outdated, and now seems to work against rural communities, not for them.
“It is a system built on the best of intentions, but it has morphed into a labyrinth of bureaucracy. A farmer told me last week it feels as though the system of Natural England and the Environment Agency is designed to trip you up, not help you.”
She added: “I have been frank. We got some things right in government and we got some things wrong. We did a lot of good in farming and environmental policy about which we can rightly be proud.
“But we lost our focus for a while on the primary purpose of farming; to grow food. That changes now. Food production and food security will be at the heart of Conservative agricultural and environmental policy.”
Keighley and Ilkley MP Robbie Moore, the Shadow Farming Minister, told a Connecting with the Countryside fringe event earlier in the day that Defra needs to be focused on the food and rural affairs aspect of its portfolio, as well as the environment.
“The Minister for Rural Affairs has got no levers of power at their disposal because policy sits in all other departments, whether it’s housing, gigabit roll-out or services that need to be delivered by a local authority,” he explained.
“The challenge here being that if you want to sense check rural policy, you have got to have it at the heart of government.”
The West Yorkshire MP called for a Rural Affairs Minister to sit within the Cabinet Office and ensure that cross-departmental policies, such as rural housing, transport and health issues, do not get lost in the Whitehall machine.
This has also been pushed by the Countryside Alliance, who have urged the Government to appoint a “countryside champion”.
Defra has been contacted for comment.