Editor’s View: Here’s the speech I wish Steve Reed would give
Steve Reed © PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo This week Defra secretary Steve Reed ducked out of a scheduled appearance at the Royal Cornwall Show.
Here’s what I wish he’d said to farmers at the showground if he’d had a sudden attack of honesty. (We can but dream.)
See also: UK found ‘unprepared’ for severe animal disease outbreak
“Good morning. Thank you for your kind invitation to speak at the show today.
“You are here, I suspect, to ask me tough questions about the actions the Labour government has taken since it came into office almost a year ago.
“Our decisions on inheritance tax [IHT] have shocked, angered and worried so many of you, and the future of environmental support schemes is now less clear than when I took over at Defra.
“For that, I am truly sorry, as I am for how tired you are of the reasons I have given for taking these actions – batting away analysis of how widespread the impact of IHT will be and continually referring to the strained state of the public finances.
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“I have to level with you: Politics is a team endeavour and it’s my job to defend the chancellor in public, even when it strains my own credibility to breaking point.
“It will be for her to decide if there is any change to the IHT proposals.
“But here’s what I can be honest with you about today.
“There are decisions on funding being taken at the spending review that are going to affect departments across Whitehall for a generation.
“The cuts to spending are going to be brutal, including at Defra.
“There are many tough decisions ahead as the cost of protecting the NHS and rebuilding our armed forces leaves less money for everything else.
“At Defra, I have concluded that the only solution is to do a smaller number of things well, rather than spreading ourselves so thinly.
“Nowhere is this problem more acute than in our vital work to detect and fight disease outbreaks.
“We have ongoing battles against outbreaks of bluetongue and avian flu, as well as endemic diseases such as bovine TB.
“But as a National Audit Office report acknowledged this week, even at current spending levels, we don’t have enough surveillance, contingency plans or personnel to combat a severe disease outbreak such as foot-and-mouth.
“Weybridge, our key facility for research and testing will not be fully rebuilt for another 10 years and is at serious risk of site failure, with 60% of buildings in need of urgent repair and replacement.
“And somehow, we lack a comprehensive digital livestock movement tracing system, despite Defra having worked on this for 12 years and spent £181m in the past six years alone.
“I hope that it is not already too late to rebuild our capabilities before something bad happens, and want to make this a top priority.
“Once the budget is published, the work to define what the other key priorities are – and crucially are not – will begin in earnest and I need your help to make those difficult decisions.
“I won’t be in this post forever, but while I’m here I work for you, even if I haven’t yet tackled many jobs the way you would have liked. Thank you.”