New PM appoints Zeichner as farming minister

New prime minister Keir Starmer has appointed Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner as farming minister.

Mr Zeichner held the post in the shadow cabinet for three years before Labour swept to power, and was credited by many in the industry for becoming knowledgeable on the brief.

See also: Shadow minister hints Labour government will extend farm budget

Farm groups welcomed his appointment on social media, with NFU deputy president David Exwood saying on X: “Congratulations Daniel. I look forward to working with you. We appreciate the engagement you’ve had with the agriculture industry over a number of years and the understanding you bring to the role.”

At the last Labour conference in October 2023, Mr Zeichner suggested farmers could expect to be paid more to upgrade their slurry storage if his party was in power, in order to tackle water pollution.

Neither he nor his boss, new Defra secretary Steve Reed, committed to increasing agriculture funding at the conference, but in an exclusive interview with Farmers Weekly in April 2023, Mr Zeichner did hint that he thought the current budget was not big enough.  

In this interview, he also said he “had some sympathy” with the idea of maintaining an element of direct support in the Environmental Land Management scheme and discussed the need to enhance the power of the Groceries Code Adjudicator.