New polling from the Conservative Environment Network has shown rural communities are concerned by climate change and nature destruction
The polling suggests there is a political opportunity to win over rural voters who don’t associate any party with supporting nature restoration or farmers
Despite delivering on these priorities in government, CEN’s Kitty Thompson argues Conservatives failed to champion these policies at the election
The Conservative Environment Network has released new polling, conducted by Stack, ahead of their rumoured £100 million cut to the budget. It reveals the public's attitude towards the environment and farming at the 2024 general election. It also offers new insight into the different parties’ reputation on farming and the environment.
The polling reveals the impact on voters of the Conservative government's Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs), which replaced legacy EU agricultural subsidies to reward and incentivise more nature-friendly farming practices. According to this polling, rural communities want greater sustainability and financial support for farmers, which ELMs sought to deliver on. However, our polling reveals this policy hasn’t cut through to voters.
Most voters recognise the impact of nature destruction and climate change on food security
69% of all 2024 voters, 72% of 2024 Conservative voters and 66% of rural voters agree that damage to our natural environment threatens our ability to produce food.
72% of all 2024 voters, 76% of Conservative voters and 70% of rural voters agreed the impacts of climate change will damage our ability to produce food.
When given the choice, voters tended to agree that government payments to farmers should support nature restoration, even at the cost of food production
47% of 2024 voters think that the government should pay farmers to restore nature, even if the UK grows less food, compared to 18% who disagreed.
42% of rural voters think the government should pay farmers to restore nature, even if the UK grows less food, compared to 21% who disagreed with the statement.
This belief was popular across voters of all parties, with a plurality of Conservative voters (46%) and a majority of Labour (50%) and Lib Dem (56%) voters agreeing.
83% of those who are very familiar with ELMs and 56% who are quite familiar agree that the government should pay farmers to restore nature, even if the UK grows less food.
Voters tended to say say they were motivated at the 2024 general election by support for both farmers and the environment
When asked which issue at the general election motivated their voting decision - support for the environment or farmers - 25% said both equally, 20% said the environment and 13% said farmers.
22% of rural voters said they were motivated by both issues, 19% said the environment and 13% said farmers.
There is a political opportunity for parties to win over rural communities through environmental ambition and delivering for farmers
A plurality of all UK adults (46%) said they were not familiar at all with the government farm payment reforms (i.e. ELMs). 47% of Conservative voters and 48% of rural voters said they were not familiar at all with the reforms.
When voters were asked which party they associate with reforming government payments to farmers so they are paid for public goods like protecting the environment (similar to ELMs), 37% of all UK adults and 40% of rural voters said they did not associate any party with the reforms.
However, 25% of voters and 18% of rural voters did associate Labour with the changes, despite the Conservatives introducing the programme.
This pattern continued when asking voters which party they associated with nature restoration and supporting farmers
The plurality of rural voters (43%) associated the Green Party with supporting nature. 20% did not associate any party, whilst 15% chose Labour and 10% chose the Conservatives.
35% of voters associated the Green Party with supporting nature restoration, with 23% of voters not associating any party with supporting nature.
The plurality of rural voters (34%) didn’t associate any party with supporting farmers. The Conservatives were the highest ranked party, with 18% of voters thinking they support farmers.
33% of all UK adults did not associate any party with supporting farmers. 24% of all UK adults associated the Labour Party with supporting farmers whilst 15% of associated it with the Conservatives.
Reform voters tended to see their party as supporting nature:
31% of Reform voters associated the Reform UK Party with supporting nature as opposed to the other main parties.
Kitty Thompson, Senior Nature Programme Manager at the Conservative Environment Network, commented:
“The previous Conservative government delivered a once-in-a-generation transformation of payments to farmers. Instead of wasteful EU subsidies for managing farmland, ministers created a world-leading payment system which rewards farmers for protecting the environment alongside producing food.
“This polling clearly shows voters want payments to support farmers whilst restoring nature. But, the public are unaware of a fundamental reform that delivered on their priorities.
“This has created a vacuum, with no party seen as standing up for rural communities’ values. Especially with reports that the government is set to cut the ELMs budget, the Conservatives can rectify their mistakes in neglecting to promote their ELMs reforms during the general election campaign. There is no time like the present for Conservatives to tell voters what they did, why it matters, and that it is now under threat.”
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