River clean-ups ‘could be hit by Defra £500m cut’
The Government department overseeing the environment is facing an 11 per cent cut to its budget by the end of next year, official statistics have revealed.
The Liberal Democrats warned that efforts to clean up England’s rivers and lakes could be hit by the reduction in real-terms funding.
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is responsible for the Environment Agency, which monitors water pollution.
Ministers have promised to hold water companies to account for high levels of pollution in waterways following a public outcry and campaigns including i‘s Save Britain’s Rivers.
But the small print of last week’s autumn statement revealed Defra is in line for significant cuts because its funding will not be increased to compensate for higher-than-expected inflation.
Last fiscal year its budget was equivalent to £4.7bn in current prices, and next year it will fall to £4.1bn – a reduction of more than half a billion pounds, or 11.5 per cent of its overall funding.
Tim Farron, the Lib Dems’ environment spokesperson, told i: “The Conservative government is once again letting polluting firms off the hook. By slashing environmental funding it makes it harder to tackle the sewage scandal, protect wildlife and prepare for floods.
“The public will be rightly furious at this cut whilst water firms get away with destroying rivers and coastlines. It shows the Government just doesn’t care about the environment.
“We need this spending protected, a new water industry regulator to go after polluting firms and a government which actually wants to protect our precious environment.”
Only a handful of services including the NHS and schools have received a fresh infusion of cash from the Treasury to make up for the higher costs they face due to inflation.
Defra and other “unprotected” departments are also in line for steep cuts after 2025, when the current spending settlement expires, because Jeremy Hunt has promised to balance the books by limiting the rise in overall government spending to around 1 per cent in real terms.
Steve Barclay took over from Thérèse Coffey as Environment Secretary in the Cabinet reshuffle this month.
He has not yet spoken publicly about his plan to reduce water pollution. The Lib Dems are seeking to appeal to Conservative voters in the South of England who are concerned about the environment and worry that the Government is not doing enough to protect it.
