Tag: Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 31 August 2024.

A bluetongue restricted zone has been declared across Norfolk and Suffolk.

Following several confirmed cases of Bluetongue virus BTV3 at premises across Norfolk and Suffolk, the UK Chief Veterinary Officer has declared a bluetongue restricted zone across the region to mitigate the risk of further cases of disease occurring.

Rolling information on the latest situation and number of cases is here.

The new restriction zone replaces the original Temporary Control Zone.

It means that from 20.00 on 30 August all keepers of cattle, sheep, other ruminants and camelids in these hotspots will need to follow strict restrictions on animal and germinal product movements. Further information on these restrictions and the licences that are available is on gov.uk, alongside symptoms of bluetongue and how to spot it and report it.

All infected premises have been placed under restriction and susceptible animals can only be moved under licence from infected premises.

Essential moves of susceptible animals (cattle, sheep, goats, deer and other ruminants and camelids including llamas and alpacas) can take place without a licence within the Restricted Zone but cannot be moved out of the zone without a specific licence. A general licence to move animals to designated abattoirs is also available.

Bluetongue virus is primarily transmitted by midge bites and affects cattle, goats, sheep, goats, deer and camelids such as llamas and alpacas. The impacts on susceptible animals can vary greatly – some show no clinical signs or effects at all while for others it can cause productivity issues such as reduced milk yield, while in the most severe cases can be fatal for infected animals.

It does not affect people, and meat and milk from infected animals are safe to eat and drink.

Surveillance is underway to understand if the virus is currently circulating in the UK and the extent of any undisclosed disease. Given the current temperatures and midge activity, which spread the disease, there is a high risk of onward spread in the UK.

There have been a rising number of the cases in Northern Europe and the Chief Veterinary Officer recently called for increased vigilance and responsible sourcing of livestock.

Farmers should continue to monitor their animals frequently for clinical signs and report suspicion of disease immediately, they should also make sure their animals and land are registered with APHA so keepers can be kept informed and animals easily located.

Farmers are also reminded that free testing remains available for animals moving from the highest risk counties to live elsewhere in Great Britain or to be sold at a market within a high-risk county where there will be buyers from outside the high-risk counties.

UK Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said:

Following an increased number of bluetongue cases, we have declared a restricted zone across Suffolk and Norfolk. This means all keepers in these regions must urgently act now to both prevent the disease spreading to their herds and any further. Farmers are urged not to move animals within the zone unless it is absolutely necessary.

We have not taken this action lightly and we are clear that farmers and their vets must remain vigilant and report any suspicions to APHA immediately.

In line with the disease control approach developed in advance of the virus being found, we are seeking to limit the spread of infection and the new restricted zone will increase the chances of being able to do this.

We are committed to working with everyone affected to help them protect their animals and those of neighbouring farmers, and we will keep the size and nature of the zone under constant review as our understanding of the disease picture develops.

Farmers can help minimise the risk of disease spread by not moving animals within the zone unless they really have to.

BTV is a notifiable disease. Suspicion of BTV in animals in England must be reported to the Animal and Plant Health Agency on 03000 200 301.

In Wales, suspected disease should be reported to the Animal and Plant Health Agency on 03003 038 268.

In Scotland, you should contact your local Field Services Office if you suspect bluetongue. In Northern Ireland please report to the DAERA Helpline on 0300 200 7840 or by contacting the local DAERA Direct Veterinary Office.

More information about bluetongue is available here.

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 30 August 2024.

First Bovine TB strategy in a decade to end the badger cull and drive down TB rates to protect farmers’ livelihoods.

Work on a comprehensive new TB eradication strategy has been launched today (30 August) to end the badger cull and drive down Bovine Tuberculosis (TB) rates to save cattle and farmers’ livelihoods.

Over the past decade, TB has had a devastating impact on British livestock and wildlife. Over 278,000 cattle have been compulsorily slaughtered and over 230,000 badgers have been killed in efforts to control the disease, costing taxpayers more than £100 million every year.

For the first time in over a decade, the Government will introduce a new bovine TB eradication strategy working with farmers, vets, scientists and conservationists to rapidly strengthen and deploy a range of disease control measures.

The new strategy will mark a significant step-change in approach to tackle this devastating disease, driving down TB rates and saving farmers’ livelihoods and businesses. It will use a data-led and scientific approach to end the badger cull by the end of this parliament.

The work to end the badger cull starts immediately and includes:

• First badger population survey in over a decade: The last major badger survey was carried out between 2011-13, leaving policy makers with no clear idea of the impact culling techniques have on our badger populations. The Government will work at pace to launch a new survey this winter to estimate badger abundance and population recovery to illustrate the impact of widespread culling over the past decade.
• New national wildlife surveillance programme: After a decade of culling, the prevalence of TB in remaining badger populations is largely unknown. The development of a new national wildlife surveillance programme will provide an up-to-date understanding of disease in badgers and other wildlife such as deer. Together with updated estimates of badger abundance, this will unlock a data-driven approach to inform how and where TB vaccines and other eradication measures are rapidly deployed to drive down TB rates and protect farmers’ livelihoods.
• Establish a new Badger Vaccinator Field Force: Badger vaccinations create progressively healthier badger populations that are less susceptible to catching and transmitting TB. A new Badger Vaccinator Field Force will increase badger vaccination at pace to drive down TB rates and protect badgers.
• Badger vaccination study: To supplement the Field Force, the Government will rapidly analyse the effect of badger vaccination on the incidence of TB in cattle to encourage farmers to take part and provide greater confidence that doing so will have a positive effect on their cattle.

In addition, we will accelerate work on the development of a cattle vaccine, which is at the forefront of innovative solutions to help eradicate this disease. The next stage of field trials will commence in the coming months. Our aim is to deliver an effective cattle TB vaccination strategy within the next few years to accelerate progress towards achieving officially TB free (OTF) status for England.

The full strategy will be co-designed with farmers, vets, scientists and conservationists. It will consider a range of further measures including boosting cattle testing, reducing the spread of disease through cattle movements, and deploying badger vaccination on a wider, landscape scale. This will build on Professor Sir Charles Godfray’s 2018 independent strategy review.

Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs, Daniel Zeichner said:

Bovine tuberculosis has devastated British farmers and wildlife for far too long.

It has placed dreadful hardship and stress on farmers who continue to suffer the loss of valued herds and has taken a terrible toll on our badger populations.

No more. Our comprehensive TB eradication package will allow us to end the badger cull by the end of this parliament and stop the spread of this horrific disease.

Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said:

Bovine tuberculosis is one of the most difficult and prolonged animal disease challenges we face, causing devastation for farming communities.

There is no single way to combat it, and a refreshed strategy will continue to be led by the very best scientific and epidemiological evidence. With the disease on a downward trajectory, we are at a crucial point. Working in collaboration with government and stakeholders will be the only way we achieve our target to eradicate bovine tuberculosis in England by 2038.

John Cross, chair of the bTB Partnership said:

As chair of the bTB Partnership for England, I am delighted to hear Minister Zeichner’s intention to refresh the current bTB strategy. Ten years after its launch, the time is right to look again at the tools we use to tackle this persistent disease.

Bovine TB is the common enemy, not farmers or wildlife groups. Only by working together, will we reach our goal.

The government will also publish additional information about animal and herd-level bTB risk – for example, the date and type of the most recent TB test completed in the herd of origin of that animal and how long the animal has been in the herd.

This greater level of detail will be made available on ibTB – a free to access interactive map set up to help cattle farmers and their vets understand the level of bovine TB in their area and manage the risks when purchasing cattle.

Today’s announcement ensures the government meets its manifesto commitment and represents a new direction in defeating this disease that will both protect the farming community and preserve wildlife.

Further information

Existing cull processes will be honoured to ensure clarity for farmers involved in these culls whilst new measures can be rolled out and take effect.

The Bovine TB Partnership is a stakeholder-government collaboration established as a driving force for further progress towards disease eradication.  It is made up of experts from government (Defra, APHA and Natural England), as well as farmers, veterinarians, scientists, academics, and ecologists/conservationists, including representatives from the National Farmers Union, British Veterinary Association, British Cattle Veterinary Association, and the National Trust .

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 27 August 2024.

Egg producers and packers will no longer need to change how eggs are labelled during an outbreak of avian influenza under measures announced today by the Government (27 August).

Currently, when mandatory housing measures are introduced to protect birds from the spread of disease, eggs from free-range birds can only continue to be labelled as ‘free-range’ for 16 weeks after the housing order has come into effect – the existing ‘derogation’ period under the Egg Marketing Standards Regulations. After that period, these eggs must then be labelled as barn eggs.

In both 2021-22 and 2022-3, the 16-week derogation period was exceeded by six and seven weeks respectively, which led to significant costs for industry as egg packaging had to be changed to comply with legislation.

The amends to existing legislation, which will be introduced through a Statutory Instrument later this year, will mean that free-range eggs can continue to be labelled as such throughout mandatory housing measures.

The move will cut unnecessary red tape and costs for British producers while also strengthening supply chain and maintaining consumer confidence.

Daniel Zeichner, Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs said:

We understand the pressures facing the egg producing sector and the crippling impact that avian influenza outbreaks can have on their businesses. Removing the need to change labels on eggs and packaging will help them keep costs down and remain competitive.

This Government will restore stability and confidence in the sector introducing a new deal for farmers to boost rural economic growth and strengthen food security alongside nature’s recovery.

The UK has self-declared freedom from HPAI for Great Britain with effect from 29 March 2024. There are currently no outbreaks of HPAI in poultry or other captive birds in the UK. However, HN51 continues to be found in wild birds in Great Britain and across Europe and keepers should remain vigilant and practice stringent biosecurity to protect the health and welfare of their birds.

The proposal to remove this derogation period for England and Scotland was supported by the majority of respondents to an eight-week consultation undertaken earlier this year.

More information can be found on our latest situation page.

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 27 August 2024.

Animal and Plant Health Agency leading £2.3 million project to fill knowledge gaps on avian influenza disease status, transmission and risks to mammals.

Work to understand how avian influenza behaves in wild bird and mammal populations will be accelerated with the launch of a new £2.3 million research consortium it has been announced today (27 August).

Scientists from the UK’s world leading Animal Plant Health Agency (APHA), alongside the British Trust for Ornithology, RSPB, NatureScot, and various academic institutions will collect and analyse samples from a range of bird and mammal populations to better understand how the virus behaves and fill current gaps in understanding about its transmission within wild birds, as well as the wider risks to mammals.

The most recent outbreaks of the current H5N1 strain of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI), commonly known as bird flu, were the largest ever in the UK and devastated wild bird populations including seabirds such as gannets and black-headed gulls. This strain has also infected numerous species of wild mammals around the world, including otters and foxes in Great Britain.

To improve the existing data on wild birds, teams from across the consortia are sampling different bird species under license to assess the presence of active infection or antibodies from previous exposure to avian influenza viruses. This will help understand the extent to which native bird populations have developed an immune response to the virus and how the circulation of different avian influenza virus subtypes might impact upon the emergence of new notifiable avian influenza viruses.

During the recent HPAI outbreak in GB, the genetic make-up of the H5N1 virus changed on multiple occasions following the exchange of genetic material between notifiable and non-notifiable viruses. This led to the emergence of the H5N1 virus in a broader range of species, which was a critical factor in the devastation of populations of great skua, gannets and various gull species. Evaluating the spectrum of notifiable and non-notifiable viruses that are circulating in different wild bird species will fill a huge knowledge gap in our understanding of the origin and risk of virus emergence.

The research team will also consider the impact of avian influenza on wild mammals. In GB, mammals have been affected where they have likely scavenged on birds that have died from the disease. The project will assess the susceptibility of different species and the potential mechanisms by which the virus spreads between bird species and mammals and what role mammals might play in disease spread during an outbreak – such as via the feet and fur. The team will test mammals including rats, foxes and otters in high-risk environments – where there have been mass mortality events recorded in birds in the past two years – to understand whether exposure from infected wild birds and the carcasses of animals that have succumbed to infection has led to an antibody response.

Professor Ashley Banyard, Influenza and Avian Virology workgroup leader at the Animal and Plant Health Agency, said:

Having access to a wider range of samples will mean we can study avian influenza viruses in much greater detail to learn more about how they behave and interact and how this might affect future disease outbreaks.

This vital research project brings together some of the leading ornithological organisations to help gather the samples, and ultimately, following diagnostic testing, increase our understanding of avian influenza viruses across bird populations within Great Britain.

This will help APHA inform the development of future strategies to protect our wildlife and minimise the impacts of this awful disease on both animals and humans.

Defra Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser Justine Betja said:

This collaboration brings together a wealth of expertise to enhance our understanding of one of our most serious animal health challenges.

The results from this co-ordinated scientific effort will be a vital contribution to our preparations for future disease outbreaks to help us protect the health of animals, humans and the environment.

Between 2021-2023 the emergence of the current H5N1 strain of avian influenza saw the UK experience its largest ever outbreak of bird flu. The outbreak led to the death of 97 million birds globally (3.8 million in the UK), with significant consequences for agriculture and the environment. Thousands of wild birds tested positive for the virus across the country, with more than 90% of recorded bird flu detections in UK poultry happening during this period.

HPAI was previously only seen as a seasonal risk with incursions into Great Britain being linked directly to wild bird migration. However, the shift in infection dynamics seen with H5N1 has meant that the virus has ‘over-summered’ in different avian species and has also extended beyond avian populations.

By evaluating a broad range of species APHA will be able to define the likely impact of infection with different avian influenza viruses on different populations, not just where infection has caused clinical disease, but also where these viruses circulate in the absence of clinical disease.

This new, multidisciplinary project, funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, will enhance our understanding of the factors behind the spread and evolution of avian influenza viruses, including the apparent decline in cases since January 2024 and the potential drivers behind this.

The work, which will run until next year, will inform future risk assessments and strategies for disease control in both animal and human populations. It takes a One Health approach, recognising the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health in addressing the risks posed by emerging infectious diseases.

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 21 August 2024.

Strict new controls suspending personal imports of certain sheep and goat commodities, such as meat, cheese and milk products, have been announced today (21 August) to safeguard Britain’s sheep and goat populations from outbreaks of peste des petits ruminants (PPR).

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) poses no risk to human health but is a highly contagious disease affecting goats and sheep. In recent months, there have been outbreaks in mainland Europe, and the commercial import of certain commodities is already restricted to prevent the spread of PPR into Great Britain.

The new controls come into force in England from today (21 August) and in Wales tomorrow (22 August), with Scotland soon to follow. They will strengthen the requirements for bringing sheep and goat meat and milk into Great Britain from the European Union (EU), European Free Trade Association states, Greenland and Faroe Islands.

It will no longer be permitted to bring unpackaged sheep and goat meat and meat products, or sheep and goat milk and milk products, from these areas. Additionally, commercially produced and packaged sheep and goat milk and milk products are not permitted from Greece or Romania.

These measures will remain in place until PPR no longer presents a risk to GB through the import of those products.

UK Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer Ele Brown said:

There have been recent outbreaks of peste des petits ruminants in Europe. This poses no risks to humans but causes severe illness in sheep and goats. An outbreak in the UK would lead to animal suffering and be very damaging for our farming and livestock industry.

Everyone can do their bit to help stop animal diseases spreading to this country by simply not bringing unpackaged meat, cheese and milk on to our shores.

Everyone can help to stop the spread of PPR to the UK by doing the following:

• If you are visiting PPR-affected countries, do not bring any sheep or goat products back to the UK.
• If you are visiting EU or EFTA countries not affected by PPR, you must not bring back sheep or goat products unless commercially produced and packaged to EU standards.
• Dispose of any leftovers or food waste in secure bins that sheep, goats, or wildlife cannot access.
• Farmers, the public and members of the food industry should practice high biosecurity standards, including never feeding catering waste, kitchen scraps or meat or milk products to sheep and goats, which is illegal and can spread the disease.

The government continually monitors disease outbreaks around the world to assess whether there may be risks for the UK and takes action to limit the risk of the disease reaching our shores.

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 12 August 2024.

The Government has today (Monday 12 August) set out tough new measures to crack down on water companies failing their customers. Under new plans, households and businesses will be entitled to higher compensation rates from water companies, and in a wider range of circumstances when basic water services are hit.

The new proposals set out by Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed, will double the amount of reimbursement that customers are legally entitled to when key standards are not met by water companies.

Subject to an eight-week consultation, government proposals will double payments for all existing standards and will more than double the payments for certain highly disruptive incidents, such as failing to provide notice of supply interruptions and missing arranged appointments with customers.

The government will also expand the list of circumstances that can trigger compensation, including automatic payments for boil notices when drinking water standards drop, or when water companies fail to conduct meter readings or installations as promised.

A boil notice means you must boil your water before you drink it, cook with it, or brush your teeth. The changes would mean that recent outages in Brixham and Bramley earlier this year would have automatically led to compensation for all customers, where there was no entitlement before.

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed said:

Our water industry is broken.

After years of failure, households and businesses have been let down by water companies time and time again.

The new Government will clean up the water industry and turn the tide on the destruction of our waterways ensuring water companies protect the interests of their customers and the environment.”

Welcoming the launch of the consultation, Jenny Suggate, Director of Policy, Research and Campaigns at CCW, said:

We’re delighted the government is fast-tracking efforts to improve the Guaranteed Standards Scheme, with the potential to boost compensation and support for hundreds of thousands of people each year when they are let down by their water company.

Given that there has been little change to the standards since they were first introduced, an overhaul is long overdue, and we know it is a pressing priority for household and business customers.

Demanding higher standards of service and improving levels of compensation when things go wrong will incentivise water companies to get things right the first time for all customers.”

Based on an average annual water and sewerage bill of £440, this would mean the minimum payment of at least £40 under all proposals would now represent around 10% of the average annual customer bill, with several higher payments worth at least a quarter. An issue like low pressure could see payments of up to £250 and payments for internal flooding from sewers of up to £2000.

The standards, outlined in the Guaranteed Standards Scheme, set out a baseline for customer service in the water sector. They include providing timely restoration of water supply following an interruption, responding to written complaints and managing the risk of sewer flooding. Levels of reimbursement for when these standards aren’t met have remained the same since 2000.

Today’s proposals to significantly increase reimbursement reflect the need to uprate payments in line with inflation and recognise the significant impacts of recent water supply disruptions on communities like those seen recently in Hastings, Brixham and Bramley. This will put fair and transparent customer service at the heart of water company dealings when basic services are compromised.

This consultation follows the Government announcing its Water (Special Measures) Bill to cut sewage spills and attract investment to upgrade infrastructure. This includes:

• Strengthening regulation to ensure water bosses face personal criminal liability for lawbreaking;
• Giving the water regulator new powers to ban the payment of bonuses if environmental standards are not met;
• Boosting accountability for water executives through a new ‘code of conduct’ for water companies, so customers can summon board members and hold executives to account;
• Introducing new powers to bring automatic and severe fines;
• And requiring water companies to install real-time monitors at every sewage outlet with data independently scrutinised by the water regulators.

The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) have fed into today’s consultation, following their own review of the standards. The consultation will run from Monday 12 August until Monday 7 October. A government response will follow in due course once the consultation has closed.

Further legislation will be outlined in due course to fundamentally transform and reset the water sector and restore our rivers, lakes, and seas to good health.

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 8 August 2024.

A second man has been interviewed about the large-scale fly-tipping that occurred across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex.

One man was arrested on 1 August in Harlow, Essex, and a second man was interviewed on 8 August in relation to large-scale, organised fly-tipping across several counties including Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex.

In addition, three warrants were executed by Hertfordshire Police. The arrest was part of an Environment Agency investigation into the large-scale, organised dumping of waste across East Anglia and the Home Counties, named Operation Eagle.

Hertfordshire Police were integral to the arrest and custody of the suspect, enabling Environment Agency enforcement officers to successfully continue the investigation.

Waste crime pollutes our environment, undercuts legitimate business and significantly affects our farmers and rural communities.

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 5 August 2024.

The first Sustainable Farming Incentive agreements for 2024 are now live as the government starts to deliver on its commitment to restore stability for the farming sector by continuing the controlled rollout of the scheme.

Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner said:

This Government recognises that food security is national security. We said we would provide stability for farmers and we are delivering on this commitment by confirming that the first Sustainable Farming Incentive agreements are now live.

This is the first step to increase farmer confidence, as part of our new deal for farmers, to boost Britain’s food security, restore nature and support rural economic growth. We will optimise Environmental Land Management schemes so they produce the right outcomes for all farmers – including those who have been too often ignored such as small, grassland, upland and tenanted farms.

We will protect farmers from being undercut in trade deals, make the supply chain work more fairly, prevent shock rises in bills by switching on GB Energy and use the government’s purchasing power to back British produce.

New guidance and updates to the Find funding for land or farms tool will be fully available by the end of the day (Monday 5 August).

The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 1 August 2024.

Government commits to address low confidence and provide stability for the farming sector as figures show confidence remains poor.

The government has announced its commitment to introduce a new deal for farmers to address low confidence and provide stability for the farming sector.

Figures released by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, show confidence remains poor.  The data indicates that half of farmers don’t feel positive about their future in farming.  Of those farmers saying they are making changes, a quarter of plan to reduce the size of their businesses and 14% plan to leave farming in the next 3-5 years.

The results make clear the need for the end of farmers being rocked by the chop and change of farming schemes, optimising Environmental Land Management schemes so they work for all farmers including those who have been too often ignored such as small, grassland, upland and tenanted farms, and action by the new government to restore stability and confidence in the sector.

They follow the negative trend seen across the past few years. This is a complex problem, with several factors contributing to this persistent trend. Farmers have been struggling with extreme weather events like flooding and sudden huge rises in energy costs and been undermined by damaging trade deals.

The latest Farming Opinion Tracker for England gives a snapshot of the views and opinions of the sector between end of April and beginning of June. The latest results show that trade agreements with other countries were a factor for 29% of farmers who made changes to their business.

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed said:

Confidence amongst farmers is extremely low.

The new Government will restore stability and confidence in the sector introducing a new deal for farmers to boost rural economic growth and strengthen food security alongside nature’s recovery.

We will protect farmers from being undercut in trade deals, make the supply chain work more fairly, prevent shock rises in bills by switching on GB Energy, better protect them from flooding through a new Flood Resilience Taskforce and use the Government’s own purchasing power to back British produce.

The work of change has now begun.

The government is introducing a new deal for farmers to boost Britain’s food security and drive rural economic growth. This will include:

• Optimising Environmental Land Management schemes so they produce the right outcomes for all farmers – including those who have been too often ignored such as small, grassland, upland and tenanted farms – while delivering food security and nature recovery in a just and equitable way.
• Seeking a new veterinary agreement with the European Union to cut red tape at our borders and get British food exports moving again.
• Protecting farmers from being undercut by low welfare and low standards in trade deals.
• Using the government’s purchasing power to back British produce
• Setting up a new British Infrastructure Council to steer private investment in rural areas including broadband rollout in our rural communities.
• Speeding up the building of flood defences and natural flood management schemes, including through a new flood resilience taskforce to protect our rural homes and farms.
• Introducing a land-use framework which balances long-term food security and nature recovery

The speech made by Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, at the Garden Museum in Lambeth on 31 July 2024.

First of all, I’d like to thank everyone for joining us today – and in particular to our hosts at the Garden Museum. I used to be the council leader in Lambeth, and it’s exciting to be in a familiar space.

It’s great to see lots of familiar faces, many who I met during my time on the opposition benches. Those years are happily behind us now.

We’re united in our ambition to restore nature and support our rural economies and our rural communities. In the past, to me, it’s too often felt like the government wasn’t listening to our partners across the sector.

I want to change that.

I’ve been honoured to be appointed as Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in what is one of the most exciting and important briefs anywhere in government.

But I know I can do more in this job if I work in close collaboration with all of you.

So, your voices will now be heard.

Because that is the way that together we can deliver the change our country wants to see and that our country voted for a little over three weeks ago.

Things need to be different – and will be – different.

We are at a critical moment for nature.

We all want a future where our children can splash about carefree in our rivers, where our fields are full of healthy crops, where our shelves are full of good nutritious, affordable food, healthy animals graze, and our marine life flourishes.

But without change we face a future where torrents of sewage swill through rivers, rolling hills transform into mountains of waste, the dawn chorus is increasingly silenced, and homes and businesses are underwater.

For the past fourteen years, nature has been on a trajectory of decline – here at home and also internationally.

It’s shocking – and profoundly upsetting – that Britain has become one of the most nature depleted countries on the planet.

The voices of environmental organisations, farmers, businesses, rural businesses and so many others were ignored by the previous government.

But I want to thank all of you for your efforts, whether that was fighting to protect vulnerable habitats and species, supporting farmers and fishing communities, or keeping rural communities alive.

We want to reset the approach, raise ambition, and renew momentum

so that our children – and their children – can have the future we want them to enjoy

with clean rivers, fresh air, and limitless opportunities wherever they grow up.

I want to restore that sense of national pride in our beautiful countryside.

We need to show leadership on climate and nature at home, so we have the credibility to lead internationally.

And that work of change has now begun.

Britain is back on the international stage for nature and for the climate.

I’ve set Defra five key priorities.

We will clean up Britain’s rivers, lakes and seas.

In the last few weeks, we’ve reset that relationship with the water industry with tough first measures introduced already, to start to stop illegal pollution of our waterways and a strong new partnership that is intended to bring in a massive investment in jobs that will upgrade our broken sewage infrastructure.

We will end the throwaway society and work towards a zero-waste economy where resources are reused and recycled, creating new jobs and investment, but also protecting nature.

We will support farmers to strengthen Britain’s food security and boost rural growth with a new deal for farmers, cutting energy bills, ending trade deals that undermine environmental and welfare standards, and buying more British produce with the public purse.

We will speed up nature’s recovery, working with civil society, communities and businesses to restore and protect our natural world on land and in our oceans – at home as well as internationally.

And we will speed up the building of our flood defences and drainage systems to keep people and businesses safe, generating jobs in all regions of our country.

The Prime Minister has been clear that this Government’s top priority is to grow the economy.

And whether it’s creating jobs and attracting investment in our water and waste sectors, building economic resilience through better flood defences and nature-based solutions or supporting our food and drink sector, from fishers and growers to retailers and hospitality, Defra’s work is fundamental to all of the government’s missions.

Nature will get back its voice at the very heart of this government because, as everyone in this room already knows, without nature there is no economy, no food, no health and no society.

It underpins everything.

We’ve all enjoyed the mental and physical benefits of spending time outdoors.

Access to nature has a key part to play in Labour’s mission to rebuild our NHS and improve the health of our nation.

We are indebted to so many of you in this room whose work enables people to get outside, in our stunning National Parks, local nature reserves

or right here in Lambeth, with community sessions in the museum’s garden.

And we’ve committed to open up even more opportunities for adults and children alike to get out and enjoy nature

with nine new national river walks, three new national forests, and increasing responsible access to the countryside so more people can enjoy the best of rural Britain and create memories that will last a lifetime.

I recognise that we face a crisis – nature is dying, our rivers are polluted, and urgent action is paramount.

But this decline is reversible

and with the right approach I am confident we will change course.

This approach involves collaboration and working in partnership –

listening to your expertise and experience so we can shape policy and create the regulatory environment that will allow us to succeed.

I’m delighted to sow those first seeds of change at the Garden Museum here today.

Just as seeds take time to grow, we can’t fix our environment or clean up our rivers overnight – but, together, over the next weeks, months and years, we can nurture our countryside, restore nature, and build our rural economies so they bloom once more.

Now let’s get those conversations going again tonight.

Please come and say hello to me and my ministerial team dotted around the room [Daniel Zeichner, Emma Hardy, Mary Creagh].

We’re all really keen to speak with you, to listen with you, not just tonight but also to work with you in the months and years ahead.

Because as I’ve said, if we can tap into your insight, your expertise, and the networks and communities that you all represent, then nature and the future of nature is in the very best possible hands.

Please enjoy the rest of the evening

Thank you very much.