Legislation to speed the use of gene editing (GE) in crop breeding will be laid before parliament this spring, Defra secretary Steve Reed has confirmed.

Primary legislation to allow gene editing had been passed by the previous Conservative government in 2023, but the secondary legislation required to put it into effect has been on hold ever since.

See also: Gene editing – the pros and cons for farming

There had been fears that Labour promises to move forward with the necessary rule changes “as soon as parliamentary time allows” had stalled.

Media reports suggested that introducing gene editing might jeopardise a potential Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement with the EU and was therefore being resisted.

Legislation due in spring

But these concerns were dismissed by Mr Reed, who said the Labour government was keen for farmers to take part in research and benefit from agri-tech.

“Precision breeding offers huge potential to transform the plant breeding sector in England, enabling innovative products to be commercialised in years, instead of decades,” he said.

“I can today confirm we will introduce secondary legislation to parliament by the end of March, unlocking new precision breeding technology that will allow farmers to grow crops that are more nutritious, resistant to pests and disease, resilient to climate change and benefit the environment.”

Mr Reed added that it was “quite right that the UK should go ahead with the things we believe in” rather than be tied to other countries’ legislature.

Response

The announcement was welcomed by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Science and Technology in Agriculture, which earlier this week wrote to Defra ministers demanding a clear timetable for introducing the legislation.

APPG chair George Freeman MP said: “Getting our rules in place now will enable investment to flow and innovation to take place, and allow the first precision-bred products to be commercialised.”

Progressing the legislation would also demonstrate that the government can deal with diverging regulations on an international basis.

“Importantly, however, today’s announcement related only to the implementation of precision breeding in plants,” Mr Freeman added.

“The government must bring forward the parallel implementing rules for farmed animals at the earliest possible opportunity, to tackle virulent livestock diseases such as bird flu in poultry, African swine fever in pigs, and bovine TB and viral diarrhoea in cattle.”