Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox official post Template:PoliticsUK The secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, also referred to as the environment secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

The office holder works alongside the other Defra ministers. The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs.

Responsibilities

The secretary of state has two main responsibilities at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to:

• bear overall responsibility for all departmental issues.
• lobby for the United Kingdom in other international negotiations on sustainable development and climate change.

List of environment secretaries

Secretaries of state for the environment (1970–1997)
Secretary of State<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation			CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Term of office		Party		Ministry
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Peter Walker Template:Small	Template:Small 1970	Template:Small 1972	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative	Heath
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Geoffrey Rippon Template:Small	Template:Small 1972	Template:Small 1974	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Anthony Crosland Template:Small	Template:Small 1974	Template:Small 1976	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Labour	[[Labour government, 1974–1979|Wilson Template:Small]]
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Peter Shore Template:Small	Template:Small 1976	Template:Small 1979	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Labour	Callaghan
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Michael Heseltine Template:Small	Template:Small 1979	Template:Small 1983	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative	Thatcher I
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Tom King Template:Small	Template:Small 1983	Template:Small 1983	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Patrick Jenkin Template:Small	Template:Small 1983	Template:Small 1985	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative	Thatcher II
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Kenneth Baker Template:Small	Template:Small 1985	Template:Small 1986	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Nicholas Ridley Template:Small	Template:Small 1986	Template:Small 1989	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
Thatcher III
	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Chris Patten Template:Small	Template:Small 1989	Template:Small 1990	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Michael Heseltine Template:Small	Template:Small 1990	Template:Small 1992	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative	Major I
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Michael Howard Template:Small	Template:Small 1992	Template:Small 1993	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative	Major II
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		John Gummer Template:Small	Template:Small 1993	Template:Small 1997	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
Secretaries of state for the environment, transport and the regions (1997–2001)
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		John Prescott<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Small	Template:Small 1997	Template:Small 2001	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Labour	Blair I
Secretaries of state for environment, food and rural affairs (2001–present)
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Margaret Beckett<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Small	Template:Small 2001	[[2006 British cabinet reshuffle|Template:Small 2006]]	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Labour	Blair II
Blair III
	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		David Miliband<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Small	[[2006 British cabinet reshuffle|Template:Small 2006]]	Template:Small 2007	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Hilary Benn<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Small	Template:Small 2007	Template:Small 2010	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Labour	Brown
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Caroline Spelman<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Small	Template:Small 2010	[[2012 British cabinet reshuffle|Template:Small 2012]]	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative	Cameron–Clegg Template:Small
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Owen Paterson<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Small	[[2012 British cabinet reshuffle|Template:Small 2012]]	[[2014 British cabinet reshuffle|Template:Small 2014]]	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Liz Truss<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Small	[[2014 British cabinet reshuffle|Template:Small 2014]]	Template:Small 2016	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
Cameron II
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Andrea Leadsom<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Small	Template:Small 2016	Template:Small 2017	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative	May I
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Michael Gove<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Small	Template:Small 2017	Template:Small 2019	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative	May II
style="background-color: Template:Party color; border:none" |		Theresa Villiers<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Small	Template:Small 2019	[[2020 British cabinet reshuffle|Template:Small 2020]]	rowspan=2 style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative	Johnson I
style="background-color:Template:Party color; border:none" |Template:Zwsp			Johnson II
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		George Eustice Template:Small		[[2020 British cabinet reshuffle|Template:Small 2020]]	6 September 2022	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Ranil Jayawardena Template:Small	6 September 2022	25 October 2022	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative	Truss
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |		Thérèse Coffey Template:Small	25 October 2022	13 November 2023	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative	Sunak
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Error creating thumbnail:	Steve Barclay Template:Small	13 November 2023	5 July 2024	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Steve Reed Official Cabinet Portrait, July 2024 (cropped) 4.jpg	Steve Reed Template:Small	5 July 2024	5 September 2025	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Labour	Starmer
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Official portrait of Emma Reynolds MP crop 2, 2024.jpg	Emma Reynolds Template:Small	5 September 2025	Incumbent	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Labour

Timeline of environment secretaries

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 from: 05/11/1972 till: 04/03/1974 color:con text:"Geoffrey Rippon"
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 from: 05/03/1974 till: 08/04/1976 color:lab text:"Anthony Crosland"
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 from: 08/04/1976 till: 04/05/1979 color:lab text:"Peter Shore"
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 from: 05/05/1979 till: 06/01/1983 color:con 
 from: 28/11/1990 till: 27/05/1992 color:con text:"Michael Heseltine"
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 from: 06/01/1983 till: 11/06/1983 color:con text:"Tom King"
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 from: 11/06/1983 till: 02/09/1985 color:con text:"Patrick Jenkin"
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 from: 02/09/1985 till: 21/05/1986 color:con text:"Kenneth Baker"
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 from: 21/05/1986 till: 24/07/1989 color:con text:"Nicholas Ridley"
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 from: 24/07/1989 till: 28/11/1990 color:con text:"Chris Patten"
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 from: 11/04/1992 till: 27/05/1993 color:con text:"Michael Howard"
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 from: 27/05/1993 till: 02/05/1997 color:con text:"John Gummer"
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 from: 08/06/2001 till: 05/05/2006 color:lab text:"Margaret Beckett"
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 from: 05/05/2006 till: 28/06/2007 color:lab text:"David Miliband"
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 from: 28/06/2007 till: 11/05/2010 color:lab text:"Hilary Benn"
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 from: 12/05/2010 till: 04/09/2012 color:con text:"Caroline Spelman"
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 from: 04/09/2012 till: 14/07/2014 color:con text:"Owen Paterson"
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 from: 15/07/2014 till: 14/07/2016 color:con text:"Liz Truss"
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 from: 14/07/2016 till: 11/06/2017 color:con text:"Andrea Leadsom"
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 from: 11/06/2017 till: 24/07/2019 color:con text:"Michael Gove" 
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 from: 24/07/2019 till: 13/02/2020 color:con text:"Theresa Villiers"
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 from: 13/02/2020 till: 06/09/2022 color:con text:"George Eustice"
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 from: 06/09/2022 till: 25/10/2022 color:con text:"Ranil Jayawardena"
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 from: 25/10/2022 till: 13/11/2023 color:con text:"Thérèse Coffey"
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 from: 13/11/2023 till: 05/07/2024  color:con text:"Steve Barclay"
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 from: 05/07/2024 till: 05/09/2025 color:lab text:"Steve Reed"
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 from: 05/09/2025 till: end color:lab text:"Emma Reynolds"

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