Category: Environment

  • Martin McCluskey – 2026 Speech on Carbon capture and the renewal of British industry

    Martin McCluskey – 2026 Speech on Carbon capture and the renewal of British industry

    The speech made by Martin McCluskey, the Minister for Local Energy and Jobs, in London on 13 October 2026.

    Thank you, Olivia [Powis], for that introduction.

    I’m really pleased to join you this afternoon as the new minister responsible for carbon capture, utilisation and storage.

    In July, the Prime Minister asked me to continue in the department in a new role, as Olivia said, as Minister for Local Energy and Jobs. The idea behind this brief is simple.

    Energy has always been a critical sector for our country – employing tens of thousands of people, driving and contributing to the country’s economy.

    And with the country now firmly in the midst of the energy transition, my focus is on making sure that every single community feels the benefit and that people across the country can grab the opportunities of the transition with both hands.

    What I say about this job is that it isn’t a job that deals in the abstract. This is about people and places. And that’s why it’s at the heart of the Prime Minister’s agenda for reindustrialisation.

    This sector underpins so many communities in the UK and for decades, industrial decline has dismantled the people and places at the heart of it.

    As we transition our economy from fossil fuels to clean homegrown power, we have to be clear what this is about…

    …maintaining our independence, reducing our reliance on dictators and petrostates, rebuilding our industrial strength…

    …creating good jobs and restoring opportunity in every part of the country.

    And ultimately, building a world-leading British economy that is fit for the challenges of the future.

    And I see CCUS playing a key role in that.

    Your sector enables some of our most strategically important sectors, including cement, chemicals, refining and low-carbon power generation…

    …to remain competitive in an increasingly carbon-constrained global economy.

    It helps decarbonise existing industries, safeguard foundational sectors, and create the conditions for new low-carbon products and services to emerge.

    The engineering expertise, project-delivery capability, offshore infrastructure and technical skills developed over decades in the North Sea are directly transferable to carbon capture, transport and storage.

    From decarbonised cement to future low-carbon industrial products, CCUS is opening up opportunities across our industrial heartlands and ensuring they have a stake in the industries of the future.

    At the same time, it creates new markets and supply chains, attracting private investment into our industrial heartlands.

    CCUS is not just an industry in its own right. It is an enabler of wider industrial growth.

    That is the central argument I want to make today.

    Carbon capture is not an end in itself.

    The pipelines, capture plants and storage sites – they matter.

    But ultimately, they matter because of what they allow us to do, and the industries they enable.

    To protect existing industries looking to decarbonise.

    To make products in Britain that the world needs.

    And, most importantly, to create good jobs and restore opportunity in communities right across the country.

    That, in my mind, is the real prize before us.

    When we talk about reindustrialisation, it can sometimes sound like quite an abstract idea.

    A word that might be more comfortable and belong in an economic strategy or a government report.

    But it describes and reflects the reality, the lived experience of millions of people in this country.

    That too many places have been left behind for too long, with opportunities cut off and people moving away from their homes, or abroad, to find decent jobs.

    Young people grow up in communities that they love.

    Their families and friends are there.

    Their roots are there.

    But when it comes to the point of building a career, too often they feel they have little choice but to leave.

    Not because they necessarily want to go, but because the secure jobs, training opportunities and well-paid careers are no longer available close to home.

    And when that happens, a community does not simply lose one worker.

    It loses skills. It loses spending power. It loses people who might have started businesses, raised families or contributed to local life.

    Over time, that changes how a place sees itself.

    Because meaningful work is about more than just a wage packet.

    It gives people purpose, it gives people independence.

    It allows them to plan for the future.

    It gives families security, it gives young people something to aim for.

    When generations of people see industries close, investment disappears and opportunities move elsewhere.

    And the damage is not just economic.

    It damages confidence. It weakens the sense that the future belongs to them.

    It frays at the social fabric of a place.

    We have seen this in the past in former mining communities.

    We have seen it in our great manufacturing towns.

    We have seen it in communities built around steel, around chemicals, oil and gas, and engineering.

    I have the privilege of representing in parliament a shipbuilding community.

    But I’m from the first generation in my family that didn’t work in the yards or the trades associated with them.

    Why? Because the jobs just aren’t there anymore.

    At the end of the 1950s, around 10,000 people in my community worked in shipyards.

    Now that number is about to fall below 200.

    And when the decline set in through the 1970s and through the 1980s, the new jobs that were promised materialised in the form of call centres and semiconductor manufacturers, but then most of them disappeared in the ‘90s and the noughties.

    What the government is now focussed on is how we undo that damage.

    These places powered this country.

    They created Britain’s wealth.

    They created the skills, the expertise and the industrial capacity on which our national success was built.

    But too many were left without a serious plan when the industries around them declined.

    Government stood back. Investment moved elsewhere. And people were told that this was simply the way that the economy worked.

    This government does not accept that.

    We have a responsibility to shape the economy.

    To work with industry.

    To invest strategically in the long-term and build the infrastructure businesses need.

    And to ensure that economic change happens with communities, rather than happening to them.

    That the places we are proud to call home can be given new life, designed by the people who know them best.

    That is why, to my mind, reindustrialisation matters.

    It is not about recreating the economy of the past.

    It is about building the industries of the future in the places that have the skills, experience and ambition to lead them.

    That thinking is at the heart of my job as Minister for Local Energy and Jobs.

    The 2 parts of that title belong together.

    Local energy.

    And local jobs.

    Because the clean energy transition will only succeed if people can see how it improves their lives.

    If they see good jobs being created. If they see investment arriving in their communities. If local businesses win contracts.

    If young people get apprenticeships. And if communities have a real stake in the economic change taking place around them.

    My job is not simply to support projects. It is to ensure those projects support people and places.

    That means strengthening local supply chains, enabling engineering firms to win new contracts, invest in new capabilities and grow for the long term.

    It means making sure experienced workers know that the skills they have gained over decades will be needed in the industries we are building today.

    And it means giving businesses confidence that Britain is serious about the infrastructure, skills and long-term certainty that industrial investment requires.

    It also builds on strengths we already have.

    That’s why CCUS is not only critical to achieving net zero.

    It is central to this government’s reindustrialisation agenda.

    And the clusters are proving that we can deliver it.

    The most important thing about CCUS is not simply the carbon it captures. It is about what that infrastructure makes possible.

    When we talk about pipelines and storage networks, we should also talk about the industries that can connect to them.

    Cement works. Refineries. Chemical plants. Low-carbon power generation. Energy-from-waste facilities.

    Take just one industry, cement.

    The project at Padeswood is not simply carbon capture attached to a cement works. It will be the UK’s first carbon capture-enabled cement plant, securing the future of a vital foundation industry.

    It is about protecting an important industrial site, the workers who depend on it and the supply chains built around it.

    But it’s also about creating a new generation of low-carbon construction materials and positioning British businesses to serve future markets.

    Or take refining and chemicals.

    Carbon capture offers a route to reduce their emissions while keeping production and skilled employment in Britain.

    The alternative cannot be to close British industry, import the same products from elsewhere and pretend the emissions have disappeared.

    That would not be decarbonisation. It would be deindustrialisation by another name.

    That is why I see CCUS not simply as environmental infrastructure, but as economic infrastructure.

    And we are making great strides in building that infrastructure.

    Working with industry, government has secured 5 Final Investment Decisions.

    In the East Coast Cluster, the Northern Endurance Partnership and Net Zero Teesside Power are helping to build a new low-carbon industrial heartland, supporting around 3,000 jobs during construction while delivering secure, flexible low-carbon power.

    In the North West and in North Wales, as part of HyNet, Liverpool Bay CCS is now supporting over 1,400 jobs.

    In the same cluster, as I mentioned a moment ago, Padeswood is securing the future of a vital foundation industry.

    And Protos will be the UK’s first carbon capture-enabled energy-from-waste facility, demonstrating British innovation in action.

    These competitions will help maximise the use of infrastructure already under construction, attract further private investment, develop supply chains, and strengthen Teesside’s position as a leading hub for clean industrial growth.

    Projects in the East Coast Cluster have announced over £2 billion of supply-chain contracts awarded to more than 260 UK suppliers to date.

    They have also announced investment of over £1 million in local skills development, with 175 local young people in training.

    That is what reindustrialisation looks like in practice.

    Combined, Padeswood and Protos will support over 600 jobs.

    The real value of a cluster is the ecosystem that can grow around it, and we are building the foundations of new industrial economies.

    And this opportunity reaches beyond the first 2 clusters.

    Two Teesside-based competitions are running this year to support expansion.

    We will be setting out the next steps soon, so that industry has the clarity you need, taking into account the readiness of additional store capacity along the East Coast.

    We are funding the development of CCUS infrastructure in the Humber region as part of the Viking cluster.

    We are supporting the development of Acorn CCS, which is important to Scotland’s carbon capture infrastructure.

    It will help strengthen industrial competitiveness, attract private capital, and ensure Scotland can play a leading role in the UK’s growing carbon-management industry.

    Together, this industry and these projects are already supporting around 5,500 jobs in the UK.

    And I want to hear from you. I want to hear from all of you.

    To hear what is working, hear where the challenges are, and to support the work you are doing.

    It begins with government and industry working together to maintain investor confidence, attract new investment and drive down costs as we deliver this first wave of projects.

    At the same time, you have a part to play in this as well.

    Showing how these projects create real economic growth, and support domestic supply chains, and, ultimately, provide value for money.

    This is how the clean energy mission delivers not only decarbonisation, but reindustrialisation and economic growth.

    And sets us up to be an economy that can resist the effects of wars and crises overseas that we do not control.

    But it is no secret that we are operating in a challenging fiscal environment, and this government remains committed to meeting its fiscal rules.

    So I owe you today to level with you, the next phase of the CCUS programme will be in the context of broader difficult decisions on funding.

    We must ensure that public investment is targeted where it can deliver the greatest value, while continuing to build confidence in the long-term future of the sector.

    That may mean making decisions about priorities, sequencing and pace, and recognising that progress will not always happen everywhere at once.

    But this will also mean opportunity. As we move beyond first-of-a-kind projects, we are developing policies that offer industry and private investment greater leadership and flexibility: simplifying access to networks, enabling non-pipeline connections, and allowing international transfers of CO2.

    And the Prime Minister has been clear that UK projects must deliver for UK plc and UK workers.

    So as the CCUS sector grows, the requirement for government subsidy will need to reduce if it is to be sustainable for the long term.

    But let me be totally clear, my overriding message to you today is that the government wants a strong CCUS sector in this country.

    That it is an important sector for the UK’s future, and we will continue to engage closely with industry as we continue to deliver the programme.

    That is why one of the first things I did after the reshuffle and taking this job was get a meeting in the diary with the CCSA.

    And I will be out visiting the clusters soon.

    And one thing I can do for you is make this transition more visible.

    Showing off what this sector has already achieved, that the energy transition can deliver real opportunity for our communities and our country.

    The government is in delivery mode, 2.5 years after the election.

    And I want to see how this industry is boosting local economies, and I want people to know about those successes.

    So please don’t be shy in coming forward and telling me about those successes.

    The government wants a strong carbon capture industry in Britain.

    To restore a sense of worth to our communities, to rebuild our industrial base, to lay the foundations for the future.

    And behind every strategy document, investment decision, every statistic, is a person who is proud of their community and wants to build a decent life.

    And we are serving them too.

    So, my message today is a simple one.

    Success will not be measured only by how much carbon we capture.

    It will be measured by what we build, and the message we send as we do.

    That the transition to clean energy is not a threat to British industry.

    It can be the beginning of its renewal.

    That is why this government is backing carbon capture and storage.

    So, in closing, I want to thank you all for your work so far, and I’m looking forward to we all we can achieve together in the months and years ahead.

    Thank you.

  • Emma Hardy – 2026 Comments on the Flood and Drought Taskforce

    Emma Hardy – 2026 Comments on the Flood and Drought Taskforce

    The comments made by Emma Hardy, the Floods Minister, on 11 October 2026.

    We’re facing extreme weather, with flood and drought intertwined, but the government is taking decisive action.

    We’re taking a smarter, more joined-up approach to manage the nation’s water and set up our new Flood and Drought Resilience Taskforce. This will put communities and businesses at the heart of our work and will make sure the UK is ready for whatever the weather brings next.

    We are also backing that ambition with historic investment, including £4.2 billion for existing and new flood defences that will protect even more people in the years ahead.

  • Ed Miliband – 2026 Speech at New York Climate Week

    Ed Miliband – 2026 Speech at New York Climate Week

    The speech made by Ed Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, in New York on 21 September 2026.

    It is really fantastic to be back here at NY Climate Week, I can honestly say to you, this is my second favourite Climate Week in the world, after London of course.   

    No really, it is fantastic to be here, and look, I think the first thing I want to say is to sound a note of optimism, because despite challenging political times, it is set to be the case that in 2026 we’re going to see $2.2 trillion dollars in clean energy against $1.2 trillion in fossil fuels.  

    I think that deserves a round of applause, ladies and gentlemen.  

    I was here last year as the Energy Secretary. I’m now the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, but I come here as passionate about the cause of New York Climate Week, the cause that we are all fighting for.  

    And I want to make a simple argument to you today, which is that climate and nature loss represents an urgent national security issue and demands action equal to the scale of the challenge, and that it demands a shift in our thinking and a shift in who in government takes an interest and cares about these issues and puts them front and centre.  

    And I think the history on this is instructive, like many people in this room, I’ve been at this some time for the better part of two decades.  

    Because for many years when I was the Climate Change Secretary in 2008, climate change and the destruction of nature were treated as peripheral environmental issues. Yes, they were seen as important, but they were separate from the core business of economic growth, or indeed energy security.   

    And over these last two decades, the penny has dropped about the opportunity that the energy transition offers in terms of the good jobs at good wages that so many people in our different countries want to see.   

    And Russia’s invasion of Ukraine underlined the dependence that so many countries face on fossil fuel markets, the fossil fuel roller coaster, as we call it in the UK. And the situation with Iran, the Iran war has underlined that again. And I think people now see the energy security imperative, the energy independence imperative of clean energy.  

    But having understood the jobs opportunity and the energy security imperative, my argument to you today is: we need to take the next step and recognize the national security imperative too.   

    And I think you all know the picture, and it is gloomy, I warn you, but I’m just going to say some of it to you today because we need to be truth-telling about this.  

    Over 150 million hectares burned globally in the first four months of 2026 alone.  

    Record extreme heat causing widespread loss of life.  

    Nepal’s devastating floods happening due to glacial collapse and the coming El Nino, as Prime Minister Albanese said, is already forecast to be the strongest in living memory.  

    And the nature loss crisis is just as acute, with ecosystems being degraded in every region of the world. 

    That is the conclusion of the UK’s recent nature security assessment, which you can all read.  

    This is why. These facts. What is happening in our world. Is why climate breakdown, in my view, must be an issue for foreign ministers and prime ministers, as well as energy and climate ministers. The security community, not just the activist community, the generals, not just the green campaigners. 

    And once we accept this, several implications follow.  

    First, we must change how we assess risk. Climate and nature must be embedded in national security systems, in threat assessments, and contingency planning. Countries need to pool information because a shock beginning in one country can rapidly travel through supply chains, financial markets, and migration patterns to other countries.  

    Second, we have to become better at managing shocks. These shocks that cross borders, better forecasting and early warning systems, more resilient infrastructure, health and food systems, more effective disaster risk finance and insurance. Acting before the crisis hits, rather than simply picking up the pieces afterwards.  

    Third, and in some ways this is the most important point of all, we cannot avoid some of these effects which we’re already seeing unfolding in our world. But it is up to us how severe they become.  

    That’s why we all have a responsibility, if we care about national security, if we care about keeping our populations safe, to act as countries against the threat of the climate crisis. 

    Since we met last year, the UK has passed world-leading and 1.5 degree-aligned carbon budgets for an 87% reduction in emissions by 2040.  

    We recently announced our intention to invest £400 million in the Tropical Forest Forever facility to support international action to protect tropical forests.  

    We are driving forward with our world-leading clean power plan for clean power, clean power system by 2030.  

    These are just some of the things that we are doing.  

    For us as a government, clean energy, the clean energy mission, is front and centre to our economic policy, our energy security policy, and indeed our national security policy too.  

    And my pledge to you is that the UK will pursue this national security imperative, and I see my work as Foreign Secretary as being about using our extensive embassy network, our expertise to work with others, starting here at New York Climate Week and at UNGA, at this autumn’s annual meetings at the World Bank and IMF at COP31, and in our G20 presidency next year.  

    Let me make three points to end on. First, we can do this, and it’s really, really important to say this. If we don’t say it, nobody else is going to.  

    When I left the Copenhagen climate summit, which didn’t go so well for those of you from your memories, in in 2009 we were heading for a four degree world.  

    Now we’re heading for something like a two and a half degree world, that is still fierce, fearsome, and deeply, deeply worrying, but it shows that the world has made progress. So we can do this.  

    Secondly, we must do this because for our generation we have a unique responsibility, and the unique responsibility is this. Which is we know the scale of the problem, it’s not some theoretical future thing that might happen as it was 20 years ago, we see the climate crisis unfolding, but we have time to do something about it. That is why we must do this. We must act.  

    And finally, we will do this, in my view, because I believe that actually countries all around the world now recognize this threat, and they recognize that we can only solve it acting together.  

    Last year, when I was here, I said, “don’t give up on multilateralism”, and I think the countries across the world are not giving up on multilateralism. So many countries, I mean, so many foreign ministers and others, I mean, know that no country can tackle climate change on its own, but we can do it together.  

    So, friends, this is about what makes our country safe. This is about what makes our economies strong, and this is about what will sustain our planet and our people for future generations to come. Please enjoy New York Climate Week. Thank you so much.

  • Angela Eagle – 2026 Speech on Back British Farming Day

    Angela Eagle – 2026 Speech on Back British Farming Day

    The speech made by Angela Eagle, the Environment Secretary, on 9 September 2026.

    Thank you everybody. It’s a great pleasure to be here this morning.

    I’d like to thank the NFU for convening today’s Back British Farming Day reception, which is an opportunity to celebrate the tireless work of our farmers and growers in producing high-quality food, nurturing our natural world and sustaining the beating heart of Britain’s rural communities.

    I think today is an opportunity to wear a wheat sheaf in recognition of all you do for our country.

    I’m pleased to be back at Defra. My leadership will be shaped by my experience as Farming Minister, which taught me so much, but also as Security Minister. It was a slightly shorter tenure there, but it also taught me a very great deal about what we need to be thinking about as we move into the future. It taught me as well that farming is as integral to our national security as energy or defence.

    And I would make one observation – that supply of food has often been taken for granted over the years. Because we’ve been so good at it, it has kind of faded into the background and everyone assumes it will always continue the way it always has.

    But I think that there are challenges that we have to face, not least after the kind of summer and growing season that we’ve had this year, that we perhaps haven’t had to think about in a strategic way for many, many years – and I would probably say since the last World War.

    And so, I think we must have different ways of thinking about how we do things as we move into the future.

    I know that the past year has been incredibly difficult for many farmers. You’ve had rising input costs, water supplies drained by back-to-back heat waves and climate-driven outbreaks of disease, and most notably bluetongue, which we’re having to deal with at the moment.

    I think when a third of farmers report that they make no profit, we’ve got to think about how to change that. If we’re relying on farmers to put food on our tables, farming has to put money in the pockets of those who farm. That is not rocket science conclusion to come to.

    So that’s why we’re taking action to help the sector respond to immediate pressures and build a more profitable, productive, and sustainable future.

    And we do that on the cusp of another great agricultural revolution, I believe, with the technology that has increasingly become available, which we have to not only be at the forefront of operationalising, but making certain that our farmers can use it and benefit from it.

    In his first month of office, the Prime Minister visited a farm to announce a £65 million support package, including improved access to water and £15 million for on-farm reservoirs.

    I also know this is an incredibly difficult time for animal keepers dealing with the bluetongue outbreak. APHA has published a new heat map of suspected and confirmed cases, which I hope you’ll all have seen so you can better understand the risk in your area. And from Friday 11th September, a revised reporting process will make it quicker and easier to confirm disease.

    Please speak to your vet about vaccination. It significantly reduces the severity of the disease, and you can apply for a free annual vet visit under the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway.

    But immediate support isn’t enough. For too long farmers have been left to get on with it with nobody thinking about the overall structure. That’s why I worked closely with the sector on the first ever strategic plan for agriculture, setting out how farming needs to evolve – combining nature-led solutions and farming together that will make us more resilient as we look to the future.

    On Back British Farming Day, I’d like to reiterate my full-throated support for Farming Roadmap. I’m backing it, the PM’s backing it and we are backing you to put it into effect.

    The Roadmap doesn’t see nature and farming pulling in opposite directions. Healthy soil holds water in a drought, and it drains it in a deluge. Hedgerows shelter livestock in a heat wave, as do trees.

    Our Land Use Framework says that 15% of land use needs to change and that we can change it and produce the same levels of food. We want to help that transition come about.

    Our Sustainable Farming Incentive encourages nature-based practices which we need to see adopted. And I’m pleased to say that Window 1 was a success with 7,000 applications – 87% for businesses without an ELM agreement.

    We expect Window 2 to open on the 22nd of September with an increased budget of £230 million. And we’re introducing a new feature for Window 2 allowing farmers with agreements expiring by the end of February 2027 to apply for SFI26 before their current agreement ends.

    Alongside this we’ve allocated £225 million, up 50% from last year, to support our capital grants offer. That funding is delivering practical improvements to the environment like creating 2,500 km of new hedgerows and improvements to profitability.

    Our Farming Improvement Partnership Board is bringing industry leaders into the same room to set system-wide plans for growth, starting with our growth plan for horticulture, which I am extremely committed to making a success of. With poultry and other sectors to follow.

    British farmers shouldn’t have to shoulder the risks of changing climate.

    I believe we’re at a turning point, especially after the summer we have just had, which, let’s face it, is the third difficult summer in the last five years, and it’s probably going to be repeated in its difficulties perhaps next year, with the El Niño that we’ve got forming in the ocean on the other side of the world.

    So, we’re at a turning point where the Farming Roadmap, the Farming and Food Partnership Board, the Land Use Framework, all need to come together to set a direction to make farming profitable and ensure that we can support a good and secure food supply.

    On Back British Farming Day, therefore, I want to reiterate this government’s commitment to creating the conditions you need to adapt and to succeed, because when farmers thrive, the nation thrives.

    Thank you very much.

  • Sadiq Khan – 2026 Comments on Clean Air

    Sadiq Khan – 2026 Comments on Clean Air

    The comments made by Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, on 20 August 2026.

    Clean air is a basic right, and one we shouldn’t deny to our children.

    After the ULEZ was introduced, new research shows children’s lung function improved in central London.

    Tackling air pollution is about giving young Londoners the best start in life.

  • Emma Hardy – 2026 Comments on Droughts

    Emma Hardy – 2026 Comments on Droughts

    The comments made by Emma Hardy, the Water Minister, on 29 July 2026.

    Our climate is changing, droughts are becoming increasingly common, and we need to be prepared for this new normal.    

    We’re delivering long-term change in the water industry and driving record investments in infrastructure, including nine new reservoirs.     

    We expect water companies to follow their drought plans, to go further and faster to reduce leaks, and to ensure supplies are not disrupted even in the driest of weather.

  • Emma Reynolds – 2026 Speech at Groundswell Festival

    Emma Reynolds – 2026 Speech at Groundswell Festival

    The speech made by Emma Reynolds, the Environment Secretary, on 2 July 2026.

    Good afternoon, Groundswell. I’m really excited to be here today.

    I’ve heard so much about Groundswell so my expectations were quite high, but I have to say today has exceeded all my expectations. The passion, the energy, the innovation, the optimism, and the buzz about this place is infectious.  

    No wonder people call it the Glastonbury of farming. 

    I would like to thank the Cherry family for hosting such an amazing event and having the vision 10 years ago to set this up.  

    As Environment Secretary, I see nature-friendly farming not as an alternative to productive farming, but as its foundation. I believe that profitable, resilient farming comes from working with nature. That belief has been at the heart of what I’ve been doing ever since my appointment last year as Secretary of State.  

    We all know that healthy soils are central to nature-friendly farming. They store more water during droughts, they support diverse habitats, they support pollinators and they support pest control. They provide cleaner water, stronger ecosystems and more efficient use of inputs. 

    That is why I am so excited about this agenda. And earlier today I was chatting with Andy Cato.  We were talking about the government’s 25-year Farming Roadmap, which I published just last week. England’s first ever long-term farming roadmap. It provides a long-term plan through to 2050, and nature and regenerative farming runs right through it.  

    It brings together the different things that affect your farms and that I have been talking to people about this morning. The environment, land use, animal welfare and business resilience into one clear direction.  

    It sets out how improving nutrient management and input efficiency will help farmers to reduce resilience on artificial fertilisers, cut input costs and, crucially, boost resilience. 

    Ultimately, it shows that profitability and nature are not competing aims. They are inseparable. And we need innovation to help that strategic shift set out in the roadmap to a more nature-friendly farming system. 

    Last week, I announced £123 million pounds through the Farming Innovation Programme to back new technology and improve productivity.  

    That funding is already supporting some really exciting projects. This morning, I’ve met with Harper Adams University and UK Agritech Centre to discuss how technology can cut inputs, improve resilience, and work more closely with nature. 

    And I’ve seen the impact that government support has on farms across the country.  

    Earlier this year, I met Adrian and Charlotte Downing, who run Darville’s Hill Farm in Buckinghamshire. It’s a small mixed farm with native breed sheep, rare breed pigs, and an agroforestry approach that weaves trees and hedgerows into productive farmland. Over a cup of tea, and I am a big tea drinker, they talked me through their approach. The hedgerow management gives their livestock shelter and supports wildlife. Their grazing system improves soil health and environmental management.  

    They had benefited from SFI, a scheme which funds actions to directly improve soil health, the foundations of regenerative farming through actions like cover crops, herbal lays and building organic matter in the soil.  

    Window one of SFI26 opened on Tuesday and we have seen strong interest in it already.

    And I’m delighted to say today that we are allowing farmers with land management agreements that are soon to expire to apply early for SFI26 so that you have the same confidence in the future as we do.  

    So, I’m really pleased to confirm that this new functionality will be available for window two, which opens in September.  

    But as I said, behind the numbers, there is a real story. Because when we get soil right, so much else follows. It means stronger crops, lower input costs, greater resilience. So in 10, 20 years’ time, the next generation can continue to run productive farm businesses, thriving landscapes, and a countryside richer in nature.  

    It’s why I’m delighted to announce today that we are making changes to the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier, changes that will make the scheme simpler and more accessible.  

    The scheme already supports some of the most ambitious environmental work happening on farms today, bringing wetlands, peatlands and heathlands back to life, helping threatened species recover, restoring rivers and floodplains and caring for ancient and native woodlands. 

    Until now, the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier has been invitation only, very exclusive. That is changing. From later this summer, farmers and land managers will be able to submit an expression of interest and we are introducing simpler, single-focus agreements so applicants can focus on the environmental priorities that matter most on their land.  

    Backed by at least £50 million pounds for new agreements, this will help support targeted improvements where they can make the biggest difference. And we will set out more detail later this summer.  

    So, ladies and gentlemen, I want to take a step back now and look at how far we’ve come in just a year.  

    I’ve published a long-term roadmap for the future of farming. I’ve published a revised Environmental Innovation Programme. I’ve published the country’s first ever Land Use Framework. And we have reopened SFI with record levels of investment. And backed innovation that will help farm businesses become more productive, more profitable and more resilient.  

    Thank you all again for engaging with us to help make all of this possible, for your willingness to adapt as farmers have always adapted across the generations.  

    What I see at Groundswell gives me great inspiration and great optimism for the future. Your determination to leave the land in a better condition for the next generation is truly impressive.

    Thank you very much.

  • Mary Creagh – 2026 Statement on the Government Estate Nature Plan

    Mary Creagh – 2026 Statement on the Government Estate Nature Plan

    The statement made by Mary Creagh, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in the House of Commons on 25 June 2026.

    Tomorrow, during London Climate Action Week, I am publishing the first ever Government estate nature plan, which sets out a new, smarter way of using Government land to support nature recovery, climate adaptation and the resilience of public services.

    Bringing together action across more than 577,000 hectares—roughly 4% of England’s land—the Government estate nature plan moves from fragmented, site-by-site efforts to a more co-ordinated, whole-estate approach, strengthening resilience and helping protect critical public services from climate impacts. This is a new way of seeing public land—not as scattered parcels, but as a living system that can restore nature, strengthen resilience and support the services that people rely on. As the largest landowner in the country, the Government will lead by example, showing how nature can be restored at scale while supporting essential public services.

    For the first time, the Government will apply the principles of the land use framework to their own estate, managing land more strategically to deliver for nature alongside core public services.

    The plan is supported by £4.1 million of funding for a series of pilot “lighthouse” projects across the estate. These projects on operational land, including defence training areas, transport corridors and prison estates, will demonstrate how nature recovery can enhance the resilience and delivery of public services. Evidence from these pilots will inform future, larger-scale delivery.

    Recent independent analysis indicates that the Government estate has the potential to generate ecosystem services with an estimated value of up to £67 billion where natural assets are maintained in good condition.

    This new plan is the first of its kind globally. By managing land more strategically across the Government estate and working with partners, it will support the delivery of Environment Act targets on biodiversity, water quality and woodland cover, and ensure progress to the UK’s commitment to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030. A digital map of the Government estate will be published by April 2027 to support transparency and improve spatial planning.

    The Government estate nature plan sits alongside a wider set of plans published by the National Estate for Nature, a coalition of 26 major landowners who together manage around 10% of England’s land. Members include Government Departments and public bodies, as well as organisations such as the National Trust, the Crown Estate, the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, the Church Commissioners and the RSPB.Toggle showing location ofColumn 30WS

    Together, partners have set out how they will manage their landholdings to restore and enhance priority habitats, and contribute to national targets. These include commitments such as increasing woodland cover, restoring peatlands, and expanding nature-friendly farming practices.

  • Tim Farron – 2026 Speech on Thames Water

    Tim Farron – 2026 Speech on Thames Water

    The speech made by Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for the Environment, in the House of Commons on 16 June 2026.

    I start by associating myself closely with the Secretary of State’s remarks about Jo Cox. It was a privilege to serve alongside her in this place, and we still miss her deeply.

    I am grateful to the Secretary of State for advance sight of the statement and for the helpful briefing that I received earlier. Since Conservative privatisation more than 35 years ago, some £85 billion of billpayers’ money has flowed out like a torrent into the pockets of mostly overseas shareholders and executives paying themselves unearned bonuses. That money could and should have gone into cleaning up our waterways and modernising infrastructure. Instead, sewage was released into our lakes, rivers and seas for 1.8 million hours last year, and more than 100,000 of those were in the Thames region alone. Some 20% of our water leaks out of its pipes before it even reaches our homes. For Thames Water, the figure is even worse, with 25% of that water wasted.

    Now Thames Water’s investors are asking for more time for more opportunity to take money before they inevitably run. The Secretary of State is right, then, that the creditors’ offer is a disgrace. They get to keep making money, and Thames Water billpayers get to pay even more to keep them going, while getting the privilege of seeing long-overdue infrastructure improvements delayed for yet another decade. Thames Water is taking the mickey. The Liberal Democrats say, “No more, and no thanks.”

    It is clear that Thames Water has failed in its basic performance as a water company, and that gives the Secretary of State all the reason she needs to place it into special administration, so why is she not doing that instead? Her letter to Ofwat is, I am afraid, a sign of dreadful weakness. She has to beg an equally weak Ofwat to show a resolve that it institutionally lacks. Thames has failed in its performance, so just put it into special administration and migrate the company to a mutually owned model, where the billpayers own the company and call the shots. That way, investment will be made, sewage spills will stop and water leaks will cease. By doing that, she could begin the process whereby all our water companies are owned not by private equity, overseas investors or the sluggish state, but by the people. If she did that, she would win the favour of people from Witney to Windermere. Why does she not stop faffing about and do that instead?

    Emma Reynolds

    I thank the hon. Gentleman, I think, for his support for my statement today, although it was slightly half-hearted. He is right to say that there have been serious pollution incidents in different water companies, but especially in the Thames, and that is of grave concern to the public and to Thames Water’s customers in particular. I point out to him that there are two types of special administration regime. An insolvency SAR is an insolvency process and is for the company directors to determine. A performance SAR would be triggered if a company was in serious breach of its statutory duties or if the company breaches an enforcement order in a way that is so serious that it is inappropriate for the company to retain its licence. The Government stand ready for all eventualities, including a SAR.

  • Toby Perkins – 2026 Speech on Thames Water

    Toby Perkins – 2026 Speech on Thames Water

    The speech made by Toby Perkins, the Labour MP for Chesterfield, in the House of Commons on 16 June 2026.

    Thames Water customers are paying the price for the incompetent regulation that allowed Macquarie to saddle the company with eye-watering debts at the same time as its environmental performance was so disgraceful. That debt ultimately led to shareholders writing the equity value down to zero. Those who bought the debt are now making this proposal. I entirely understand why the Secretary of State would not want customers to receive a service that was failing in its environmental responsibilities while they paid higher bills, but what assessment has she made as to whether Thames Water is a viable business? We have been told that this is the final offer from the company. Is there a viable business there that will deliver long-term investment within a reasonable cost window for billpayers? If there is not, at what point does public administration become inevitable?

    Emma Reynolds

    As I set out in my letter to the regulator, Ofwat, I am concerned that the proposal will mean delays to environmental improvements and to improvements to water infrastructure, with, as my hon. Friend rightly says, unfair cost being laid at the door of Thames Water customers. He asks whether it is a viable business and about next steps. This is a stage in the process where I have given my early views on this proposal. It is now for Ofwat to decide what to do next, and we wait to see what happens.