CONSERVATIVE PARTY

• Sustainable Farming Incentive payments will not be capped, but there is no commitment yet on the post-2024 budget
• £4 million for small abattoirs
• 30% of land and seas protected for nature by 2030
• Watering down of net zero ambitions
• Clarity expected on taxation of environmental land uses

The Conservative Party has been instrumental in creating a revolutionary new architecture for land use in England, with post-Common Agricultural Policy policies transferring responsibility for food supply chains onto the private sector and dramatically increasing financial drivers towards environmental outcomes. These twin changes are posing considerable challenges to farming, but the government’s continued approach is to seek to empower farmers to make choices for their own businesses with minimal government interference. It has, however, yet to publish any manifesto commitments for a 2024 election.

Current spending commitments are being targeted at the farming infrastructure needed to enable farms to meet tough targets in the Environmental Improvement Plan and at technologies that can unlock farming productivity, such as robotics and genetics. An announcement on inheritance tax reliefs for environmental land uses is expected before the election. Planning and protected landscapes remain the priorities. The recently enacted Levelling Up and Regeneration Act paves the way for further planning reforms, a revised National Planning Policy Framework has just been published and the search has begun for a new National Park for England in line with the current government’s pledge to protect 30% of our land and seas by 2030.

LABOUR PARTY

• Promotion of responsible access to land
• Inheritance tax reform, but retention of Agricultural Property Relief
• Support that recognises the diversity of farming models
• Reform of planning rules and a review of the green belt
• Accelerate a just transition to net zero

The Labour Party is widely predicted to have a resurgence in the next election. So far, its policies for agriculture have been scant. Policy commitments made at the Autumn 2023 conference focussed on energy and planning reform, both of which would have an impact on agricultural land. Critics have focused on the risk to the green belt from house building and infrastructure to enable electrification and an energy transition. Also eye-catching is Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ pledge to “build it, make it and buy it in Britain”, with a corresponding commitment for public procurement of food to be at least 50% locally sourced or certified to higher environmental standards. Threats to inheritance tax remain, but Shadow Environment Secretary Steve Reed has suggested Agricultural Property Relief is safe.

LIBERAL DEMOCRAT PARTY

• Increase in the agricultural budget of £1 billion per year
• Even apportionment of funds across three tiers of Environmental Land Management
• Reform of water and abstraction rights
• New statutory purpose for planning to deliver for nature and climate
• Increase in Biodiversity Net Gain duration to 120 years and require 100% gain for larger sites

The Liberal Democrat Party has been guided by a food and farming advisory council in the creation of its comprehensive and aspirational plan for the environment. The detailed document contains multiple promises that address many of the current issues in agricultural policy, from unequal trade standards to the need for regulation of emerging environmental markets. Adoption of the Liberal Democrats’ plans for registries and government oversight of carbon removals and nature-based offsets would bring confidence to natural capital investors. A Sustainable Land Standard to set a new regulatory baseline for rural land uses (see below) and comprehensive reform of water regulation is also promised. This would entail proper enforcement of the Farming Rules for Water to tackle diffuse pollution from agriculture, and reform of abstraction rights. Most eye-catching are institutional reforms for the government to embed sustainability within the economy, including a new Chief Secretary for Sustainability and an Environment and Wellbeing budget to sit alongside the traditional budget. Reform of planning includes a new 'wild belt' around towns and cities and to ensure that the planning system delivers for nature and health.

PLAID CYMRU PARTY

• Create publicly or cooperatively owned shops to sell Welsh food
• A rural Senedd to strengthen the voice of rural communities
• 250,000 acres of mixed woodland creation per decade
• Increase the level of organic farming in Wales
• Revisit the Nitrate Vulnerable Zone regulations

The Plaid Cymru Party holds four seats out of 40 Welsh Westminster constituencies, and 12 out of 60 seats in the Senedd. Its published manifesto commitments relate to the 2021 Senedd election and new policies for the 2024 general election have yet to be announced. As the party campaigning for an independent Wales, Plaid Cymru has strong roots in the Welsh rural and cultural economy. Its policies reflect this deep commitment, taking popular farming opinion into account on issues such as NVZs, bovine tuberculosis and supporting the wool industry.

SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY

• Increased woodland creation target to 44,500 acres per year by 2025
• Commitment to support active farming with direct payments
• Tougher conditionality on farming support
• Support for community and locally owned renewable energy
• Ongoing land reform agenda

The Scottish National Party has set out an ambitious programme for its government, which will influence its campaign for Westminster seats. However, as agriculture and the environment are devolved matters, the 2024 Westminster election will be less influential on agriculture than the next Holyrood campaign, expected in 2026.

A NEW SUSTAINABLE LAND STANDARD

The Liberal Democrat Party has set out an idea for a Sustainable Land Standard (SLS), which it says will act as a new regulatory baseline for sustainable farming, forestry and other land uses. The party intends that the SLS will apply to domestic production and imports, “to ensure fairness and prevent undercutting of our farmers”, while allowing for local flexibility. It promises the new standard will set clear expectations for farming businesses, “embedding regenerative and agroecological agricultural practices and high expectations for the environment and animal welfare”. The concept is the most ambitious of all the political parties’ pledges so far for farming, but much more detail would be needed to determine whether this could be unwelcome red tape for farmers and landowners and an unfair barrier to trade, or a truly adaptable global standard for sustainable land use.

LAND USE AND OWNERSHIP POLICIES EXPECTED IN 2024

Regardless of whether there is a change of government in 2024, we are expecting policy announcements in the next 12 months that may have a bearing on farmland values:

1. England: Land use framework – Q4 2023 (overdue)

2. UK: Taxation of environmental land uses consultation response – Q2 2024

3. Scotland: Land Reform Bill – by Q4 2024

4. UK: Food security report – Q4 2024

_{Read the articles within Spotlight: The Farmland Market below.}