Fury Grows as Chancellor Reeves Plans Cuts to Nature-Friendly Farming Scheme

 

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is facing fresh backlash from rural communities and farming advocates after reports emerged suggesting she plans to significantly scale back a flagship environmental funding programme for farmers. The environmental land management (ELM) scheme, introduced after Brexit to replace the EU’s common agricultural policy, is now reportedly set for major cuts in the upcoming departmental budget announcement.

 

Currently, the ELM scheme provides crucial support to all farms across the UK, with £5 billion earmarked to be distributed between last year and 2026. The initiative is designed to reward farmers, landowners, and foresters for promoting sustainability, restoring ecosystems, and contributing to environmental improvements through projects that benefit the public and nature alike. However, according to The Guardian, this vital lifeline may soon be restricted only to “small farms,” in a shift that critics argue would undermine its core purpose.

 

While both the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Treasury declined to comment, a government insider confirmed the report’s accuracy. This development follows previous tensions between the Government and the agricultural sector, particularly after Reeves’ controversial inheritance tax policy that was seen as detrimental to family farms.

 

The proposed cutbacks come amid broader pressures on the public purse, as ministers across departments face a tightening fiscal environment. With unprotected departments bracing for real-term budget cuts toward the end of the decade, Reeves is expected to reveal full departmental spending plans on June 11.

 

Victoria Atkins, Conservative shadow environment secretary, was scathing in her response. “Once again, the Chancellor is going to use her spending review to escalate her war on farmers. This is just another example of Labour’s chaotic approach to our countryside,” she said. “Labour’s lack of understanding about our rural communities is putting our nation’s food security at risk. They need to come clean about their definition of a ‘small farm’ so they do not catch more farmers by surprise with their shambolic mismanagement. It is a betrayal as they are upending the principled approach of rewarding farmers for looking after the land whilst growing food, which is a clear Brexit benefit – or should be.”

 

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrats’ environment spokesperson, echoed those concerns, warning of devastating consequences for the countryside. “The Government is treating rural communities with gobsmacking contempt. If this comes to pass, ministers would be putting yet another nail in the coffin of farming in this country. Many farmers are barely making ends meet, working for half the minimum wage – yet they still tirelessly maintain our countryside, and it is their stewardship that allows us all to enjoy its beauty. With these cuts, those same farmers will simply not be able to protect nature in this way any more,” he said. “The Government’s utter failure to understand rural communities risks decimating them. At the spending review, we cannot see farmers come under siege once more, and these cuts cannot come to pass.”

 

The ELM programme is widely regarded as a landmark attempt to align agricultural policy with environmental sustainability, promoting what is known as “public money for public good.” Payments are granted to those who manage land in a way that supports nature recovery, improves the ecosystem, and makes lasting, positive changes to land use. Should larger farms be excluded from these payments, critics argue, the integrity and effectiveness of the programme could be fatally undermined.

 

Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers’ Union, expressed grave concern. “If this story proves to be correct, it will be another blow not just for farmers and growers but also for the viability of nature-friendly farming and for the environment,” he said. “If this is a move away from the principle of public money for public environmental goods, towards a more socially focused policy, it is misjudged, because farms of all sizes have a critical role in helping deliver for food, nature and climate.”

 

With the full details of the spending review still under wraps, government officials have so far refrained from publicly addressing the reported changes. But as tension rises in rural Britain, the Chancellor’s next move could define her standing with one of the UK’s most vital, and vocal, communities.

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from The Telegraph  2025-05-30

 

 

Wow - she's really going after the farmers - it's almost like she's forcing them to sell up and do something else.

 

Can't imagine why...

 

 

 

Clarkson,'s farm highlighted the benifits in esp four.  Jeremy should have kept quiet. 

Reeves once again demonstrating her Marxist background.

Cutting subsidies (AKA handouts of tax payer’s money) is all of a sudden communism.

 

British farmers have been on the ‘farming welfare’ tit for too long, they’ve become addicted to handouts.

 

 

2 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Cutting subsidies (AKA handouts of tax payer’s money) is all of a sudden communism.

 

British farmers have been on the ‘farming welfare’ tit for too long, they’ve become addicted to handouts.

 

 

 

I think people are generally fed up with the infinite amount of money available for foreign or anti-British purposes e.g:

 

Giving away Chagos - £30bn.   

Giving benefits to foreign nationals - £12bn per year

Illegal immigrants - £8bn a year

Foreign aid - £15bn a year.   

 

Farmers farm the land that provides food that British people eat so one could argue that its important to sustain this and benefits British people.   What does the spending listed above provide for the British people?  How does it benefit the British people that pay for this via their taxes?  

On 5/30/2025 at 4:03 AM, Social Media said:

Currently, the ELM scheme provides crucial support to all farms across the UK, with £5 billion earmarked to be distributed between last year and 2026. The initiative is designed to reward farmers, landowners, and foresters for promoting sustainability, restoring ecosystems, and contributing to environmental improvements through projects that benefit the public and nature alike.

All lefty nonsense .........

Considering they have no problems covering the countryside with ugly and damaging solar panels and wind farms.

31 minutes ago, James105 said:

 

I think people are generally fed up with the infinite amount of money available for foreign or anti-British purposes e.g:

 

Giving away Chagos - £30bn.   

Giving benefits to foreign nationals - £12bn per year

Illegal immigrants - £8bn a year

Foreign aid - £15bn a year.   

 

Farmers farm the land that provides food that British people eat so one could argue that its important to sustain this and benefits British people.   What does the spending listed above provide for the British people?  How does it benefit the British people that pay for this via their taxes?  

You forgot 45Bn for the Ukraine.

49 minutes ago, James105 said:

 

I think people are generally fed up with the infinite amount of money available for foreign or anti-British purposes e.g:

 

Giving away Chagos - £30bn.   

Giving benefits to foreign nationals - £12bn per year

Illegal immigrants - £8bn a year

Foreign aid - £15bn a year.   

 

Farmers farm the land that provides food that British people eat so one could argue that its important to sustain this and benefits British people.   What does the spending listed above provide for the British people?  How does it benefit the British people that pay for this via their taxes?  

We should perhaps have a thread on that.

 

This isn’t it.

 

Your knee jerk diversionary swerve to all things foreigner is noted.

38 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

All lefty nonsense .........

Considering they have no problems covering the countryside with ugly and damaging solar panels and wind farms.

That’s the landowners, not the Government.

34 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

That’s the landowners, not the Government.

Ed Milliband, nobody else wants it

21 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Ed Milliband, nobody else wants it

Nobody?

 

Not even the landlords installing it in the own land?

 

Seems odd.