Conservatives to abolish Environment Agency and Natural England in deregulation plan

The Conservative Party has pledged to abolish the Environment Agency and Natural England under a future manifesto, absorbing their duties directly into government as part of what leadership calls the most ambitious deregulation drive in a generation. Announced on Monday at the party’s annual conference in Birmingham, the sweeping economic package targets housing rules, environmental oversight, and business levies in a bid to stimulate growth and curb living costs.

As detailed by The Independent, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch warned at the opening of the conference that living standards have stalled because regulation has accumulated faster than it can be removed. Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith elaborated on the strategy, promising to review every bill, regulation, and chapter line by line.

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The proposals immediately affect rural governance and farming oversight. As reported by FarmingUK, dismantling the Environment Agency and Natural England means their current remits—including water-quality enforcement, the Farming Rules for Water, environmental permitting, and Countryside Stewardship advice—would be brought directly into the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins defended the move as bringing common sense to the countryside amid rocketing food prices, record farm closures, and nature in decline.

However, the move drew swift backlash from conservationists. River Action branded the proposal deeply damaging, arguing via Erica Popplewell that the Environment Agency is already constrained by a lack of resources rather than a surplus of rules. Critics emphasize that transferring functions into Defra does not automatically repeal underlying environmental legislation, leaving uncertainty over whether inspections, enforcement, and specialist advice would diminish in practice.

The deregulation package also takes direct aim at housing development and the cost of living. To lower property prices, the party intends to scrap the Future Homes Standard and incoming housebuilding rules requiring low-carbon heating technologies like heat pumps. Party researchers cited a Birmingham City Council document from 2023 suggesting efficiency mandates add tens of thousands of pounds to building a detached home, though the same estimates noted such technologies pay for themselves over roughly a decade through lower energy bills. Furthermore, shadow housing secretary Katie Lam argued that building infrastructure currently takes too long and costs too much.

On business taxation and commerce, the package targets extended producer responsibility fees designed to make companies pay for packaging waste. Scrapping this system could lift a heavy financial burden from businesses. Helen Dickinson of the British Retail Consortium and Karen Betts of the Food and Drink Federation both expressed support for reviewing or streamlining these costs, with Betts warning that the status quo adds billions to food and drink production. Additional measures include backing a third runway at Heathrow Airport, simplifying the tax code, and replacing developer infrastructure levies with a single charge.

Political reactions across Westminster were swift and varied. Labour Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson accused the Conservatives of attempting to return to failed policies of the past, while Liberal Democrats Treasury spokeswoman Daisy Cooper dismissed the economic pledges as fantasy-land proposals. Meanwhile, Reform UK Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick claimed the Tories were copying his party's policies while failing to match broader tax-free allowance commitments.

Chancellor John Healey, Mr Griffith’s opposite number in Government, is set to unveil his first Budget later this month, on October 28. For the Conservative proposals, the debate will continue as the party develops its full manifesto ahead of future electoral cycles, while rural stakeholders monitor how Defra intends to manage environmental enforcement without independent arm's-length regulators.