Coming on the heels of an announced £83 million cut in 2015-16 (almost 4 per cent) taken off its £2.1 billion budget Chancellor George Osborne has announced the spending review where he is asking unprotected departments like Defra for savings of between 25-40% over the Parliament; the plans will be announced in November.

Whilst DECC and the Low Carbon sector have seen a host of cuts to green programmes already Defra has been slow off the mark. The only announcement made in the budget – the cut to a seagull study – has already come back to bite the Prime Minister and George Osborne. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jul/24/seagull-menace-george-osborne-cut-fund-aggression-study

It goes without saying that this will have a huge impact on the Defra and its agencies with marine and coastal environmental interests. Some of the initial reactions are set out below but if you have any views or insights on this I’d be interested to hear them.

Various viewpoints on this

A Civil service viewpoint on the spending review: http://www.civilserviceworld.com/articles/opinion/emran-mian-george-osbornes-spending-review-will-only-succeed-proper-insight-and

From the waste and recycling industry http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/defra-told-to-prepare-for-40-budget-cut/

Can Defra function for farmers? http://www.farmersjournal.ie/cameron-pledges-tory-government-support-for-uk-farmers-at-royal-welsh-show-185960/

With a new Permanent Secretary who trained as an accountant Defra will need all her skills to work through the cuts from a department whose morale is already low. http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2416113/clare-moriarty-confirmed-as-defra-permanent-secretary