UK farm and fisheries minister George Eustice has retained his job at Defra following prime minister Theresa May’s government reshuffle.
Mr Eustice, who has been in post since 2013, will work alongside newly appointed Defra Secretary of State Andrea Leadsom in the role of Minister of State for Defra. Both Mr Eustice and Ms Leadsom are keen Brexiteers who campaigned for a leave vote ahead of the Brexit referendum last month.
They will be joined by two junior ministers at the department – Lord Gardiner of Kimble returns as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, while Therese Coffey takes up the same role for the first time.
Farm leaders have been quick to lobby Ms Leadsom for current levels of farm support to be maintained following the UK’s exit from Europe.
In a statement all four UK farm unions, including NFU Scotland, called on Ms Leadsom to take hold of the “once in a lifetime opportunity” a Brexit created to develop a new agricultural policy and a world class agricultural industry.
Meanwhile, SNP MEP Alyn Smith has expressed concern over Ms Leadsom’s appointment and said it could seriously damage Scottish farming.
He has hit out at a comment Ms Leadsom made in 2007 calling for subsidies to be abolished, and criticised her role in a ‘fresh start project’ that called for the phasing out of Pillar 1 Common Agricultural Policy (Cap) payments in its 2013 manifesto.
Mr Smith said: “Farmers were told by many during the EU referendum not to worry about the continuation of Cap subsidies and some hinted they could even be increased, but the reality now hits as the person in charge states she believes that they should be cut.”