Reeves protects nature-friendly farming budget amid squeeze on environment spend

Yahoo

11-06-2025

Green groups have welcomed the Government's decision to protect the nature-friendly farming budget, but concerns remain about the overall squeeze on environmental spending.
Ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves' spending review on Wednesday, environmentalists warned that cutting the budget for payments that support farmers and landowners to deliver public goods, such as healthy soil, clean water and hedgerows, would threaten the Government's efforts on food security and tackling nature's declines.
It comes as farmers face increasingly challenging climate conditions, while being hit by changes to inheritance tax and the abrupt closure of this year's sustainable farming incentive (SFI), the biggest strand of the environmental land management scheme (Elms).
In the spending review, the Government confirmed an increase in the budget for Elms from £1.6 billion in 2023/2024 to £2 billion by 2028/29.
But the Environment Department's (Defra) overall budget will be reduced by 0.7% in real terms by the end of the spending review period.
Green groups also estimate a £130 million a year real-terms cut to day-to-day resource funding.
Today's @GOVUK Spending Review sets the course for future funding.We welcome the protection of nature-friendly farming support- vital for wildlife & rural communities.But day-to-day @DefraGovUK spending has been cut, and risks to nature remain. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/cuGmrKWzb7
— The Wildlife Trusts (@WildlifeTrusts) June 11, 2025
The department will aim to make some savings through efficiency but it is not yet clear which other areas of Defra's spending could be squeezed.
After fears that the department would suffer deeper cuts, green groups and farmers largely welcomed the spending review, especially the move to protect Elms.
However, they immediately raised concerns about the impact of the overall budget cut, as well as fears that spending for Natural England, the Government's advisers on the environment, and the Environment Agency watchdog, could be reduced.
Campaigners said that Defra still remains under-resourced to enforce environmental laws at scale, limiting regulators' ability to hold polluters, including water companies, to account.
Mike Childs, Friends of the Earth's head of policy, said: 'Our natural world is also in crisis.
'Despite modest investment in environmental farming, trees and peatland restoration, the reality is that Defra is still underfunded, farmers need more money, and planning reforms that strip away wildlife protections will accelerate nature's decline.'
A Spending Review that invests in Britain's renewal.
Click to read ⬇️
— HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) June 11, 2025
Joan Edwards, director of policy and public affairs at The Wildlife Trusts, said: 'Defra will have an extremely tight budget and, against a backdrop of persistent inflation, there has been a real-terms cut to vital resource funding of around £130 million a year.
'This means that real risks to nature remain. We don't yet have details on how regulatory bodies like Natural England and the Environment Agency will be funded, for example, and any cuts to their work has serious implications for nature recovery.'
James Wallace, chief executive of River Action, said: 'We welcome increased funding for Elms.
'At the same time, years of under-funding has whittled away Defra's ability to protect the environment and enforce the law.
'The environment secretary says he is serious about improving water quality, so it is important that Labour gives him the resources he needs to honour the promises made to millions who voted for a government that pledged to clean up our rivers.'
Ami McCarthy, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, welcomed the Chancellor's announcement on investing in renewables, energy efficiency and public transport.
'But we desperately need a proper plan for nature-friendly farming to protect the environment and nature to save bees, wildlife and endangered species,' she said.
'The Government won't meet its commitment to protect 30% of our land by the end of the decade without proper investment and a radical transformation of how we restore biodiversity.'
Farming payments in England have switched from EU-era subsidies, which were based on the size of land farmed, to funding for measures that boost nature and reduce input costs, such as pesticide use.
But the biggest plank of the new approach, the SFI, was abruptly closed to applications in March after the money was all spent, and a reformed scheme will not reopen until early next year.
Figures published by the Treasury to accompany the spending review show that while total department budgets are forecast to grow by an annual average of 2.3% across the period of 2023/24 to 2028/29, there are sharp variations between individual departments.
The Government allocated £2.7 billion a year in sustainable farming and nature recovery until 2028-29.
The farming and countryside programme will receive £2.3 billion, which was the same average spend under the previous Conservative government, and up to £400 million from additional nature schemes.
Elsewhere, the Government has committed £4.2 billion over three years, 2026-27 to 2028-29 to build and maintain flood defences.
This will average £1.4 billion each year and is a 5% increase compared with the current spending review period, Defra said.