Burnham unveils £65m for drought-hit farmers after Labour backlash

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced £65m in funding to help English farmers cope with a severe drought, saying they should not have to bear the risks of the climate crisis alone. The move follows criticism from Labour MPs and grassroots members, who argued Burnham had been too slow to respond to wildfires and drought conditions affecting food producers across Britain.

Some farmers have already been forced to harvest crops early, while others are reporting poor-quality produce and reduced yields. Most of the new funding — £50m — will go toward the sustainable farming incentive, a scheme that pays English farmers to support nature on their land. This brings the scheme's total budget to £290m, with extra money directed to the areas hit hardest by drought.

Water access and wildfire response

Burnham chaired a Cobra emergency meeting this week on extreme heat, wildfires and drought. The government is working to coordinate a cross-departmental response covering farming, water supply and infrastructure. Farmers who are paid to manage nature on parts of their land, and who are normally barred from cutting or grazing it until later in the year, can now do so without losing payments where grass is scarce.

A further £15m — reallocated from existing funds — will support farmers building on-farm reservoirs to secure water supplies for future dry summers, though campaigners warn this will only cover a fraction of what is needed. Farmers are also being promised simpler, faster access to water abstraction licences.

Burnham is due to visit a farm in south-west England on Saturday, where he plans to stress that the ability to grow domestic food is a matter of national security. He noted this marks the third drought in five years. Gavin Lane, president of the Country Land and Business Association, welcomed the measures as pragmatic but temporary, warning that farmers will still bear most of the cost of building reservoirs themselves.