Uniquely for an environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey managed to alienate both farmers and wildlife groups. Notable moments include when she was booed by farmers at the National Farmers’ Union conference after flippant and arguably rude responses to the popular NFU chief Minette Batters, and she was widely ridiculed for saying the department was unprepared for the floods this autumn which destroyed thousands of homes, because the rain came from the wrong direction. Many found her to be complacent about her role; she refused to put a species reintroduction plan in place, dismissing it as “not a priority” despite recommendations from the environment, food and rural affairs committee, and was dismissive about food shortages faced earlier this year, suggesting the people of Britain should survive on turnips.
So it’s fair to say the feeling in the sector was that any replacement would likely be better. Sunak chose Steve Barclay, until this week the health secretary, to helm the department. He does not have any experience in the field but represents the rural constituency of North East Cambridgeshire, and used his first speech in parliament in 2010 to highlight inequalities in the countryside.
Sunak’s reshuffle has been aimed at winning back traditional Conservative voters, who have found recent culture wars on immigration, homelessness and climate distasteful. Many of these true blue constituencies, which are in danger of going Lib Dem or Labour, are in rural areas. There has been widespread anger about the sewage scandal, where water companies have pumped raw sewage into the UK’s rivers and seas, and Coffey was not regarded as having a grip on the issue. Farmers have also felt aggrieved by post-Brexit trade deals and a change to the farming payments system which has left many out of pocket. Not to mention the escalating biodiversity decline, with Defra failing to meet targets for trees and birds. Voters in rural areas have been taken for granted by conservatives who have always counted on their vote. So Barclay has a big job on his hands.
Let’s hope he views his job as an important one, rather than a demotion as most political journalists in the UK termed it. It was widely thought Coffey, deputy prime minister under Liz Truss, viewed the job as a demotion far below her station, and that is how many are framing Barclay’s move from health.
Unfortunately, Defra has often been the dumping ground for ministers who need to be given a job in the reshuffle but the prime minister has run out of plum roles to give them. The department has one of the smallest budgets, and is not a priority when it comes to cabinet decisions. This is largely why rural inequality continues, biodiversity indicators are plummeting, little to nothing has been done to tackle the sewage scandal and we face real structural issues with food security and flood protection.
When the supermarket shelves are empty, or homes across the country are deep in filthy flood water, the political class wakes up for a week or two and views the environment as important. With climate breakdown, these crises are likely to become more severe and more frequent, particularly given the lack of political attention historically given to the issues.
Let’s hope Barclay seizes the opportunity to make a difference – we are never going to sort our environment out if it is viewed as an undesirable role at the bottom of the pecking order.
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