Kendall warns of massive post-election Defra cuts

He was speaking after a leading think tank accused all three of the UK’s main political parties of concealing the true extent of the massive public spending cuts and tax rises they would be forced to make, if elected.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the Conservatives were planning the ‘sharpest spending cut since the Second World war and would need to find cuts of £64 billion a year by 2014/15 to meet their plans.

Labour would need to make cuts of £51bn and the Liberal Democrats, £47bn, the think tank said.

Yet the parties’ ‘vague plans’ had so far only revealed a fraction of the true savings they would be forced to introduce, it claimed.

Defra is particularly vulnerable as certain areas of public spending, such as health, education, defence and overseas spending, would be protected.

This view was reinforced by senior Australian banker Tom Vosa at a meeting of the Agricultural Engineers Association last week by. He has estimated that ‘unprotected’ departments could face cuts of 16 per cent, which he said would have ‘massive ramifications’.

Mr Kendall said it was clear departments like Defra would bear the brunt of any major spending cutbacks. “There is real concern that, whoever is elected, Defra is going to face big budget cuts,” he said.

He said the key message he would seek to deliver to the next Government would be to ensure the cuts do not undermine the competitiveness of agriculture. He said he would urge Ministers to take a long term strategic view to spending geared to supporting national food security, just as they had done with climate change.

“We need to make sure, through establishing big over-arching principles, we don’t damage the fabric of the industry,” he said.

But he said the first priority was to make departmental spending more efficient, highlighting the ‘ridiculous’ situation where it costs an average of £1,740 to administer an SPS claim in England, compared with £280 in Scotland.

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