This theme of the Brexit issue will build cumulatively over the weeks with new articles being added to the list. The Environmental Audit committee have committed to a review of the Brexit decision on the environment and predominantly on the relationship with farming. This issue has enormous implications for many areas of the water industry and the general background to this is outlined below. The public pay for UK farming in three major ways

1. By buying its products
2. By subsidising farming through the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) now to be redesigned by Defra and paid for directly by UK Government
3. By paying for the clean-up of pollution (nutrients, pesticides, colour), through poor land management enhancing floods and by having to respond to land use practices that damage wildlife and the wide environment.

It is in the third category that the water sector interacts strongly with farming and land use management. In the UK we have an excellent, world beating understanding of how farming and land-use affects the water cycle and catchment management and various programmes in place to address this. This theme will address how this aspect is being addresses in Brexit debate.

1. The Environmental Audit Committee review

The Environmental Audit Committee has launched an inquiry into the Future of the Natural Environment after the EU Referendum. Issues include the future of funding for biodiversity and agri-environment schemes, the likely changes in the devolved administration, and the role that managed rewilding can play in conservation and restoration. Evidence is being sought Click here to read more 

2. Brexit the Environment & Farming – 84 food, farming and conservation specialists send a letter to Theresa May

Guardian: New subsidies paid to farmers under a post-Brexit government must be linked closely to environmental responsibilities, a large group of political and civil society organisations – 84 food, farming and conservation specialists – has urged in a letter to Oliver Letwin and Theresa May. Protection for birds, wildlife, waterways and other natural goods should come top of the list when any new payments are considered. Current subsidies of about £3bn a year, depending on the exchange rate, come to farmers from the EU. Ahead of the referendum, leading Brexit campaigners promised that farmers would receive substantial help from the government if the UK were to leave, but also pledged that regulation would be reduced.

Click here to read more