EXCLUSIVE - Victoria Atkins: "The relationship between this Government and the countryside is broken"

Shadow Defra Secretary Victoria Akins said Defra quangos and regulators need to either be scrapped or streamlined because at present, they do not serve the best interests of farmers, the countryside and the country as a whole

Victoria Atkins

12 February 2026 • 3 min read

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Conservative MP for Louth and Horncastle Victoria Atkins said: "Schemes thought up by civil servants take land out of productive use, reducing food security without actually delivering environmental improvements. Cutting red tape and reducing the power of unaccountable regulators is the first step towards restoring trust, boosting food security, and helping British farmers thrive."

At every opportunity, the Government have made life harder for farmers, with the family farm tax fiasco, the overnight withdrawal of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and now the mission creep of...

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