Defra upgrade needed to meet Brexit challenge

Ross Murray said he is massively concerned by the strength of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) at a time when rural interests need to be high up Whitehall’s agenda.

Defra has not escaped the government’s austerity cuts and in November Chancellor George Osborne announced that the department would have to find resource savings of 15 per cent in real terms by 2019-20.

Asked by The Yorkshire Post whether he was concerned about Defra’s capacity to deliver a British agricultural policy, Mr Murray said: “It massively concerns me and the problem is that Defra is a relatively insignificant ministry and all of a sudden it’s going to have repatriated from Europe these incredibly important functions, it’s got to staff up, it’s got to tool up, it’s got to hire experts, it’s going to have to have particularly people who can understand trade negotiations and take part in it - which is really important going forward.”

Mr Murray, who expressed his relief that a prime minister had been appointed swiftly, added: “Defra is going to have to be part of the whole Brexit negotiation and we are going to really push for the Defra Secretary of State to be a very important part of that and for her department to grow in stature, function, skill and relevance.”