Victoria Atkins named as new shadow Defra secretary

In a significant reshuffle following Kemi Badenoch’s election as Conservative leader, former health secretary Victoria Atkins has been appointed as the shadow Defra secretary.

This move places the Louth and Horncastle MP at the forefront of holding the Labour government to account on key issues facing the countryside, including food security, climate change, flooding, and the future of family farms.

Mrs Atkins, who is married to ABF Sugar CEO and former British Sugar managing director Paul Kenward, has served in various ministerial positions between 2017 and 2024, most recently as health secretary from November 2023 to July 2024.

See also: Analysis: Where does the Budget leave farming?

She has been an MP since 2015 and previously worked as a barrister specialising in organised crime.

Mrs Atkins said she was “delighted” to be taking on the shadow Defra brief.

“Labour’s Budget of broken promises will hurt rural and coastal Britain and has shown that Labour does not understand the pressures we face,” she said.

“I look forward to holding them to account on food security, climate change, flooding and the survival of family farms. And my wellies are very old Hunters!”

Mrs Atkins has made clear that she is against pylons being erected in Lincolnshire and has urged the government to look into either offshore or underground cabling options as an alternative.

She voiced her strong disapproval of plans to build a corridor of pylons between Grimsby and Walpole, describing them as “carbuncles” that would mar the landscape and disrupt rural communities.

In a related development, Robbie Moore, the MP for Keighley and Ilkley and a farmer by background, has been reappointed as shadow farming minister.