Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

United Kingdom
Secretary of State
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
United Kingdom; Secretary of State; for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
	Incumbent; Steve Reed; since 5 July 2024
	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Style	Environment Secretary; (informal); The Right Honourable; (within the UK and Commonwealth)
Type	Minister of the Crown
Status	Secretary of State
Member of	Cabinet; Privy Council;
Reports to	The Prime Minister
Seat	Westminster
Nominator	The Prime Minister
Appointer	The Monarch; (on the advice of the Prime Minister)
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
Formation	15 October 1970:; (as Secretary of State for the Environment); 8 June 2001:; (as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs);
First holder	Peter Walker ; (as Secretary of State for the Environment)
Salary	£159,038 per annum (2022); (including £86,584 MP salary)
Website	ww2.defra.gov.uk

The secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, also referred to as the environment secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

The office holder works alongside the other Defra ministers. The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs.

Responsibilities

The secretary of state has two main responsibilities at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to:

bear overall responsibility for all departmental issues.
lobby for the United Kingdom in other international negotiations on sustainable development and climate change.

List of environment secretaries

Secretary of State^[3]		Term of office			Ministry
Secretaries of state for the environment (1970–1997) [edit]
	Peter Walker MP for Worcester	15 October 1970	5 November 1972	Conservative	Heath
	Geoffrey Rippon MP for Hexham	5 November 1972	4 March 1974	Conservative	Heath
	Anthony Crosland MP for Great Grimsby	5 March 1974	8 April 1976	Labour	Wilson (III & IV)
	Peter Shore MP for Stepney and Poplar	8 April 1976	4 May 1979	Labour	Callaghan
	Michael Heseltine MP for Henley	5 May 1979	6 January 1983	Conservative	Thatcher I
	Tom King MP for Bridgwater	6 January 1983	11 June 1983	Conservative	Thatcher I
	Patrick Jenkin MP for Wanstead and Woodford	11 June 1983	2 September 1985	Conservative	Thatcher II
	Kenneth Baker MP for Mole Valley	2 September 1985	21 May 1986	Conservative
	Nicholas Ridley MP for Cirencester and Tewkesbury	21 May 1986	24 July 1989	Conservative
	Nicholas Ridley MP for Cirencester and Tewkesbury	21 May 1986	24 July 1989	Conservative	Thatcher III
	Chris Patten MP for Bath	24 July 1989	28 November 1990	Conservative	Thatcher III
	Michael Heseltine MP for Henley	28 November 1990	11 April 1992	Conservative	Major I
	Michael Howard MP for Folkestone and Hythe	11 April 1992	27 May 1993	Conservative	Major II
	John Gummer MP for Suffolk Coastal	27 May 1993	2 May 1997	Conservative	Major II
Secretaries of state for the environment, transport and the regions (1997–2001) [edit]
	John Prescott^[4] MP for Kingston upon Hull East	2 May 1997	8 June 2001	Labour	Blair I
Secretaries of state for environment, food and rural affairs (2001–present) [edit]
	Margaret Beckett^[5] MP for Derby South	8 June 2001	5 May 2006	Labour	Blair II
	Margaret Beckett^[5] MP for Derby South	8 June 2001	5 May 2006	Labour	Blair III
	David Miliband^[6] MP for South Shields	5 May 2006	28 June 2007	Labour	Blair III
	Hilary Benn^[7] MP for Leeds Central	28 June 2007	11 May 2010	Labour	Brown
	Caroline Spelman^[8] MP for Meriden	12 May 2010	4 September 2012	Conservative	Cameron–Clegg (Con.–L.D.)
	Owen Paterson^[9] MP for North Shropshire	4 September 2012	14 July 2014	Conservative
	Liz Truss^[10] MP for South West Norfolk	15 July 2014	14 July 2016	Conservative
	Liz Truss^[10] MP for South West Norfolk	15 July 2014	14 July 2016	Conservative	Cameron II
	Andrea Leadsom^[11] MP for South Northamptonshire	14 July 2016	11 June 2017	Conservative	May I
	Michael Gove^[12] MP for Surrey Heath	11 June 2017	24 July 2019	Conservative	May II
	Theresa Villiers^[13] MP for Chipping Barnet	24 July 2019	13 February 2020	Conservative	Johnson I
	Theresa Villiers^[13] MP for Chipping Barnet	24 July 2019	13 February 2020	Conservative	Johnson II
	George Eustice MP for Camborne and Redruth	13 February 2020	6 September 2022	Conservative	Johnson II
	Ranil Jayawardena MP for North East Hampshire	6 September 2022	25 October 2022	Conservative	Truss
	Thérèse Coffey MP for Suffolk Coastal	25 October 2022	13 November 2023	Conservative	Sunak
	Steve Barclay MP for North East Cambridgeshire	13 November 2023	5 July 2024	Conservative	Sunak
	Steve Reed MP for Streatham and Croydon North	5 July 2024	Incumbent	Labour	Starmer

Timeline of environment secretaries

References

^ "Salaries of Members of His Majesty's Government – Financial Year 2022–23" (PDF). 15 December 2022.
^ "Pay and expenses for MPs". parliament.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
^ "Secretary of State for Environment". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Retrieved 23 October 2017.
^ "Lord Prescott". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
^ "Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
^ "Rt Hon David Miliband". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
^ "Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
^ "Rt Hon Dame Caroline Spelman MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
^ "Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
^ "Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
^ "Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
^ "Rt Hon Michael Gove MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
^ "Theresa Villiers replaces Gove as Defra secretary". Farmers Weekly. 25 July 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2019.

[1] "Salaries of Members of His Majesty's Government – Financial Year 2022–23" (PDF). 15 December 2022.

[2] "Pay and expenses for MPs". parliament.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2022.

[3] "Secretary of State for Environment". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Retrieved 23 October 2017.

[4] "Lord Prescott". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.

[5] "Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.

[6] "Rt Hon David Miliband". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.

[7] "Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.

[8] "Rt Hon Dame Caroline Spelman MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.

[9] "Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.

[10] "Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.

[11] "Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.

[12] "Rt Hon Michael Gove MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 23 October 2017.

[13] "Theresa Villiers replaces Gove as Defra secretary". Farmers Weekly. 25 July 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2019.

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v t e Secretaries of State for Environment of the United Kingdom
Secretaries of State for Environment	Walker Rippon Crosland Shore Heseltine King Jenkin Baker Ridley Patten Heseltine Howard Gummer
Secretaries of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions	Prescott
Secretaries of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	Beckett Miliband Benn Spelman Paterson Truss Leadsom Gove Villiers Eustice Jayawardena Coffey Barclay

v t e UK cabinet portfolios
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
Cabinet ministers	Prime Minister / First Lord of the Treasury / Minister for the Union / Minister for the Civil Service Deputy Prime Minister / Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary Chancellor of the Exchequer Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Secretary Home Secretary Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Defence Secretary Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Justice Secretary / Lord Chancellor Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Health and Social Care Secretary Lord President of the Council / Leader of the House of Commons Leader of the House of Lords / Lord Privy Seal Business and Trade Secretary / President of the Board of Trade Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Work and Pensions Secretary Education Secretary / Minister for Women and Equalities Transport Secretary Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Northern Ireland Secretary Scottish Secretary Welsh Secretary
Also attending Cabinet	Chief Whip / Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury Chief Secretary to the Treasury Attorney General for England and Wales / Advocate General for Northern Ireland Minister of State for International Development

Responsibilities

List of environment secretaries

Secretaries of state for the environment (1970–1997)

Secretaries of state for the environment, transport and the regions (1997–2001)

Secretaries of state for environment, food and rural affairs (2001–present)

Timeline of environment secretaries

References