Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
Arms of Her Majesty's Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Incumbent Caroline Spelman since 12 May 2010
Style	The Right Honourable
Appointer	David Cameron as Prime Minister
Inaugural holder	Margaret Beckett
Formation	8 June 2001
Website	DEFRA

United Kingdom

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the United Kingdom

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The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is a UK cabinet-level position in charge of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the successor to the positions of Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

Responsibilities

The Secretary of State has three main responsibilities at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to:

• bear overall responsibility for all Departmental issues.
• represent the UK at the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council and at the EU Environment Council.
• lobby for the UK in other international negotiations on sustainable development and climate change.

Secretaries of State, 2001–present

Name	Portrait	Took Office	Left Office	Party		Prime Minister
Margaret Beckett		8 June 2001	5 May 2006		Labour	Tony Blair
David Miliband		5 May 2006	27 June 2007		Labour
Hilary Benn		28 June 2007	11 May 2010		Labour	Gordon Brown
Caroline Spelman		12 May 2010			Conservative	David Cameron

See also

• List of Secretaries of state for the environment; Secretaries of state for the environment, transport and the regions