AIC congratulates Thérèse Coffey on becoming new Defra Secretary
Thérèse Coffey MP has been appointed as the new Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), just hours after Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister yesterday (25 October).
Robert Sheasby, AIC chief executive, welcomed Dr Coffey to her new role and stressed the urgent need to support the UK agricultural industry as it negotiates the adverse effects of the energy crisis, supply chain disruption and global market volatility.
He said: "Congratulations to Thérèse Coffey on becoming Secretary of State for Defra. Our industry now needs political stability and economic certainty in order to thrive, and we look forward to working with her on the range of issues facing British agriculture and our environment."
Dr Coffey said she was delighted to be returning to Defra, having previously served as parliamentary undersecretary and later as Minister of State at the department from 2016 to 2019.
"I will work closely with rural communities, farmers, industry and the champions of our environment to strengthen our natural environment and support our thriving food and farming sector," she added.
"I look forward to resuming our work to protect nature and deliver a stronger rural economy.”
AIC will be writing to the new Secretary of State shortly to outline priorities for the UK's agri-supply sector.
Author
Oli Hill
As Head of Communications, Oli creates and oversees the content published on AIC's website, emails, Member briefings, print publications, and social media. A qualified multimedia journalist, he previously spent six years working at Farmers Weekly magazine as a Senior Reporter on the arable team, and latterly as Community Editor. More recently he was Communications Manager at Red Tractor.