Following the appointment of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister and the resultant cabinet reshuffle, the Rt. Hon Dr Thérèse Coffey MP is to return to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) as the new Secretary of State.
Coffey replaces Ranil Jayawardena, who had been appointed by outgoing PM Liz Truss, and returns to the department where she previously held posts, firstly as Parliamentary Under Secretary of state from July 2016 to July 2019 and prior to that as Defra Minister of State from July and September 2019.
Responding to her appointment, NFU president Minette Batters said: “I would like to congratulate Thérèse Coffey on her appointment as Defra Secretary of State and thank Ranil Jayawardena for his work during his term at Defra.
“This is a crucial time for the country and I look forward to discussing some of the solutions British farming can bring to the table when it comes to growing our economy by producing more climate-friendly food for markets at home and overseas. British food and farming is currently worth more than £100 billion to the nation’s economy and has the potential to deliver so much more, in particular in our fight against climate change.
“We are at a pivotal time for agriculture policy. I look forward to working with the new Secretary of State to provide urgent clarity for farmers and growers on the new Environmental Land Management schemes to ensure they can deliver a thriving food and farming sector, alongside and equal to continued environmental protection and enhancement.”
Tony Goodger at the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS) highlighted a range of issues saying: “The cabinet, with new ministers across several briefs which have critical importance to the meat and poultry sector should, we hope, bring fresh thinking to the industry.
“As a minister representing a rural constituency, the new secretary of state will already have a good understanding of the issues which the farming and food processing sector are facing.
“Being a Suffolk MP we trust that she will immediately look to support the poultry sector who are facing the challenges of Avian Influenza, increased costs of production and the possibility that cheap poultry, which may have been produced with contaminated feed in Poland, might find its way to the UK. We also hope that she will address the issue of labour shortages and burdensome regulation to help industry remain competitive.
Of course, the new ministers at Work & Pensions and Education have a key role to play in the future development of labour and we hope that the Rt. Hon Gillian Keegan MP will introduce a Food & Drink Processing T-Level at the very earliest opportunity in order that our industry will become the career of choice for new entrants to the labour market.”
Goodger continued: “AIMS also welcome the news that Rt. Hon Kemi Badenoch MP has retained her role as secretary of state for International Trade, opening up new high value markets for British red meat and poultry, as well as valuable markets for offal and pet foods.
“Domestically, Rt. Hon Grant Shapps at BEIS needs to willing to support critical industries such as meat and poultry processing with the challenges of rising energy costs, access to trade credit insurance and the perennial issue of CO2 shortages.
“All of these ministers have big jobs ahead of them and AIMS are always happy to work with them and their officials to keep our industry in growth.”
