Spending cuts will test Defra to its limit

Farmers and civil servants are not natural bedfellows.

Ask anyone who has been on the receiving end of an RPA inspection or who has been subject to an Environment Agency investigation.

For many, the very mention of bureaucracy and inspections is enough to bring on a feeling of impending doom. So, is it any wonder that the story most commented on this week at www.farmersguardian.com is headlined Defra spending cuts will be bloody.

There were precious few people on our website willing to stick up for Defra, and even fewer who were positive about Natural England and the Environment Agency.

So the fact Defra will face a 29 per cent cut in spending over the next few years and will have to radically reshape what it is and does may be welcomed.

Some will see the promise of less duplication, less hassle and less pandering to officialdom.

But will it really be like that? The stark truth of this week¹s announcement was that aside from a £174m cut in administration costs, the loss of 5,000-8,000 staff in Defra and saving agri-environment schemes, no one seems to know what is going to happen in detail.

It was brought to the fore in Defra’s press conference by one commentator who said he ‘could not recall such a weak Ministerial press conference in 30 years on such an important issue, when the Minister seemed to have no idea where the cuts were going to come from’.

If this is the truth and there is no detail, it seems a strange way to conduct business. And, more worryingly, will we see a complete paralysis of Defra and its agencies while they try to work out what to do next?

Certainly, the loss of one in four jobs will be a big worry for staff, but there could well be a direct impact on farmers through cost-sharing, cuts to schemes, and delivery of other vital services.

While October 20 has been talked about as a key date in the political calendar, it is clear that this is only the beginning. The next few months could be a trying time for everyone.