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			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" |	File:Official portrait of Lord King of Bridgwater crop 2.jpg	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" |	File:Official portrait of Lord Baker of Dorking 2020 crop 2.jpg	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" |	Error creating thumbnail:	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" |	File:Lord PLUMB - EP President meets with UK Minister Chris PATTEN at the European Parliament in Strasbourg (cropped).jpg	Chris Patten Template:Small	Template:Small 1989	Template:Small 1990	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Meeting of the Kangaroo group in December 1988 with British MP Michael HESELTINE (cropped).jpg	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" |	File:Michael Howard as Home Secretary.jpg	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" |	File:John GUMMER 1991.jpg	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" |	File:John Prescott official portrait (cropped).jpg	John Prescott 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" |	File:Official portrait of Margaret Beckett as Environment Secretary (cropped).jpg	Margaret Beckett 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" |	File:David Miliband 11 April 2007.JPG	David Miliband 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" |	File:HilaryBennMPPortrait.jpg	Hilary Benn Template:Small	Template:Small 2007	Template:Small 2010	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Labour	Brown
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Caroline Spelman Official.jpg	Caroline Spelman 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" |	File:Owen-Paterson.jpg	Owen Paterson 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" |	File:Elizabeth truss2014.jpg	Liz Truss 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" |	File:Andrea Leadsom 2016.jpg	Andrea Leadsom Template:Small	Template:Small 2016	Template:Small 2017	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative	May I
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Michael Gove DEFRA (cropped).jpg	Michael Gove 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" |	File:Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP (cropped).jpg	Theresa Villiers 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" |	File:George Eustice Official Cabinet Portrait, September 2021 (cropped).jpg	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" |	File:Ranil Jayawardena official portrait (cropped).jpg	Ranil Jayawardena Template:Small	6 September 2022	25 October 2022	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative	Truss
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Thérèse Coffey Official Cabinet Portrait, October 2022 (cropped).jpg	Thérèse Coffey Template:Small	25 October 2022	13 November 2023	style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Conservative	Sunak
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	File:Steve Barclay Official Cabinet Portrait, November 2023 (cropped).jpg	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: 24/07/1989 till: 28/11/1990 color:con text:"Chris Patten"
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