All change at Defra in government reshuffle

Sweeping changes have come to Defra in the government reshuffle this past weekend (06-07 September). Both the Secretary of State and the Food Security and Rural Affairs Minister have been moved along and replaced.

Brought on by the resignation of Angela Rayner MP as Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the reshuffle saw former Defra Secretary Steve Reed MP moved to replace her in the latter role, while former Rural Affairs Minister, Daniel Zeichner MP, is returning to the backbenches. As a former leader of Lambeth Council and now representing the distinctly urban seat of Streatham and Croydon North, Mr Reed would seem on paper a much better fit at his new Ministry.

In their place the Prime Minister has appointed Emma Reynolds MP as Secretary of State and Dame Angela Eagle MP as Minister of State. At the time of writing Dame Angela’s ministerial responsibilities have yet to be confirmed, but with other Defra ministers apparently unaffected it is reasonable to expect they will include the critical briefs of farming, food security and rural affairs.

Representing Wycombe, a constituency with a substantial rural component, Ms Reynolds will be no stranger to the impacts of her new remit on the ground. That said, she has only sat for the constituency since the last election. She previously represented urban Wolverhampton North East from 2010 to 2019, when like many senior Labour MPs she was defeated by the Conservatives. Having worked in professional politics earlier in her career she spent the interim period as Managing Director of Public Affairs, Policy and Research at TheCityUK, which lobbies the government on behalf of the financial sector. She steps across to Defra from her previous post as City Minister at the Treasury.

Dame Angela Eagle is one of Labour’s most seasoned politicians, having sat for her constituency of Wallasey since 1992 and served in a panoply of ministerial positions under Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and now Sir Keir Starmer. In opposition, under Ed Miliband she was Shadow Leader of the House of Commons and under Jeremy Corbyn Shadow Business Secretary, a position she left in the mass resignation of the Shadow Cabinet in 2016. With her most recent role being as Minister of State for Border Security and Asylum, she will be closely familiar with policy areas where the government finds itself embattled.

Separately, the Home Office – responsible for a range of important rural concerns, including crime and firearms licensing – has also seen change. The former Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, has become Foreign Secretary and been replaced by Shabana Mahmood, previously the Lord Chancellor. Meanwhile, the former Policing and Crime Minister, Diana Johnson, has moved to the Department for Work and Pensions with her role taken by former Industry Minister Sarah Jones.

These shifts in personnel could offer the government a valuable opportunity to reset its relationship with the countryside, a relationship strained by a raft of harmful policies such as the Family Farm Tax, the abrupt early closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive and plans to clamp down on heather burning as a tool for moorland management. It would be unwise, however, to expect an immediate raft of U-turns. As recently as last Wednesday, Defra’s response to the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s critical report on the government’s vision for farming offered no succour. With the purse strings still firmly under the Treasury’s control, all eyes will be on the 26 November Budget.

We welcome Ms Reynolds and Dame Angela to their posts and stand ready to work with them to build a positive future for Britain’s vital rural communities.