Thérèse Coffey has spent much of her tenure as Defra secretary of state swimming against the tide of public opinion. From farmer fears over a new land management scheme to packaging producer angst over ongoing delays to a suite of new policies Coffey has not exactly built a coalition of stakeholders confident in her ability to effectively fulfil her brief.
Perhaps a new water strategy will carry Coffey towards calmer waters following months of negative press over sewage discharges into our rivers and oceans? The government launched its ‘Integrated plan for delivering clean and plentiful water’ before the Easter break which promises to hit polluters with harsher penalties and provide more money for farmers to manage water resources responsibly. An extension of the slurry infrastructure grant is designed to help farmers reduce a major source of water pollution by improving slurry storage, as well as the use of organic nutrients on farms. The government has also promised extra funding to support farmers with food production by enabling them to store more water on their land including via on-farm reservoirs and better irrigation equipment.
A ban on sales of wet wipes has also been proposed subject to consultation, while Defra intends to bring forward new proposals to restrict the use of ‘forever’ chemicals (PFAS) which are widely used in food packaging and that campaigners argue pose “an unacceptable risk to wildlife, human health and the wider environment” including rivers.
Reaction to the plan suggests Coffey may find herself treading water for a little longer yet. The Soil Association said it was a missed opportunity for joined up environmental policies and urged the government to address the issue of nitrogen pollution from farming. “We know it will be impossible to clean up British rivers without a rapid shift to lower input, nature-friendly farming across the UK and this requires a move away from artificial fertilisers and a shift towards nature-based solutions,” said Soil Association head of farming policy Gareth Morgan.
Ministers have also been grappling with the question of how to introduce a new regulatory regime for EU imports into the UK, including food, in a way that balances the need for proper border controls with a desire to keep processes simple for businesses. The introduction of physical checks on high risk imports like meat products has been delayed several times already since the end of the Brexit transition period however a new border target operating model sets out how checks will finally begin in October this year. The government is proposing a staged approach that will start with the requirement for health certification for higher risk imported food and feed from the EU and move onto physical risk-based checks based on the food safety risk posed to the consumer. Simplistically, this means relatively low levels of friction for importers of foods like fruit and vegetables and much greater friction for importers of higher risk products such as meat, fish and dairy.
FSA chair Susan Jebb said the regulator “strongly supports the introduction of risk-based controls on food and feed coming into the UK from the EU”. However Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation, warned the new model would make importing food from the EU “a lot harder, slower, and more expensive”. Brennan wrote in a blog for the UK in a Changing Europe network: “The result will be fewer choices on the shelf and higher food prices than there would otherwise be.”
Food businesses and their customers need little reminding of how inflation is already adding significant cost to food and drink products. Government ministers have faced criticism for their reluctance to intervene in the market which has given Labour the opportunity to put clear water between itself and the Conservatives on the issue. A Labour administration would expect big grocery chains to show “more flex” and offer more support when negotiating food prices with UK producers, the i paper reported this week. In an interview with the paper, shadow Defra secretary of state Jim McMahon called for a “relationship of equals” between supermarkets and the British farmers they buy from and suggested a Labour government would intervene in certain cases where retailers bought from abroad rather than supporting UK farmers.
