Green groups have welcomed the Government’s decision to protect the nature-friendly farming budget, but concerns remain about the overall squeeze on environmental spending.

Ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ spending review on Wednesday, environmentalists warned that cutting the budget for payments that support farmers and landowners to deliver public goods, such as healthy soil, clean water and hedgerows, would threaten the Government’s efforts on food security and tackling nature’s declines.

It comes as farmers face increasingly challenging climate conditions, while being hit by changes to inheritance tax and the abrupt closure of this year’s sustainable farming incentive (SFI), the biggest strand of the environmental land management scheme (Elms).