5 Sept 2025
Emma Reynolds has succeeded Steve Reed, who himself replaces the former deputy prime minister as housing secretary.
Allister Webb
Job Title
New Defra secretary of state Emma Reynolds MP.
A new Defra secretary has been appointed in a wide-ranging cabinet reshuffle triggered by the resignation of the former deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner.
Emma Reynolds succeeded Steve Reed, who has himself taken over the housing brief vacated by Ms Rayner, who quit on Friday 5 September.
She had previously referred herself to the Government’s ethics advisor after admitting paying insufficient stamp duty on a flat she purchased in East Sussex.
Ms Reynolds has been promoted to the Cabinet for the first time, having previously served in junior ministerial roles at the Treasury and the Department for Work and Pensions.
Elected as the MP for Wycombe at last year’s general election, she previously represented Wolverhampton North East between 2010 and 2019.
Ms Reynolds’ appointment was followed on Saturday by the departure of farming minister Daniel Zeichner, who has been replaced by Dame Angela Eagle after she was moved from the Home Office.
Among their most immediate priorities will be to oversee the development of a new strategy for eradicating bTB in England, following the publication of a new evidence review led by Professor Sir Charles Godfray last week.
It called for a “step change” in focus on the disease, warning there was currently only “a small chance” of the target to make England bTB-free by 2038 being achieved.
The department has indicated it will publish its plans early in the new year, though pro and anti-cull groups have already voiced concerns about the implications of the review.
