Michael Gove, ‘Green Brexit’, and what it all means for Britain’s farmers

Michael Gove’s speech this morning on his plan for a ‘Green Brexit’ is one of the first signs of what he is up to in his new role as Defra secretary. It was always a given that he would stir things up, but it remained to be seen whether his Brexit plan would be judged as a good thing or a bad thing by British famers and rural communities. So what did this morning’s speech deliver? Well, when it comes to farming, the answer is far more questions than it did answers.

Of course, this was a speech to various environmental groups at the World Wildlife Fund’s headquarters, so it’s unsurprising that Gove used the opportunity to give a speech that would please his audience. He did touch on farming, though. The main point that many papers jumped on is that farm subsidies will have to be ‘earned’. Gove argues that ‘support [for agriculture] can only be argued for against other competing public goods if the environmental benefits of that spending are clear.’