Hear from Angela Eagle, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, at Labour Party Conference 2026.

Well, good morning Conference. 

Angela Eagle, MP for Wallasey, 46th time conference delegate. 

But it’s my very first time standing in front of you as a Member of the Cabinet in a Labour Government. After 34 years representing my fantastic constituents just over the river – it has been a really meteoric rise. Elected as the first ever Labour MP for Wallasey in 1992. Appointed Environment Minister in the first Labour government for 18 years in 1997; serving three different Labour Prime Ministers. And now being asked by a fourth to serve as DEFRA Secretary of State in the British Government.

Now, once I was proud to be elected to chair this conference and I am sorry to all those I didn’t call. I was also proud to chair the National Policy Forum. And I can you now I’m just as proud to be speaking in front of you today. Now, when my sister and I were at university in the 1980s – the first in our family ever to go – we saw power, resources and control ripped out of our communities.

And it wasn’t by accident, Conference. It was by design.

Margaret Thatcher took a sledge hammer to the post war settlement which was created to bolster democracy and opportunity for all. Crushing the culture of working class solidarity and self reliance – she labelled trade unionists the enemy within.

And she weakened the wages councils – letting low pay rip. She hid a huge transfer of wealth and power to an already privileged few. And she claimed that the market always knows best; privatising our essential services more than any other developed country so that private providers shaped services in their interests not in ours.

We all saw it happen.

And that power never returned.

Then came David Cameron, slashing resources to the core services people deserve and expect. And so today, when mountains of waste are piled up, sewage is choking our local rivers and payouts to private owners are flowing regardless of performance, communities feel powerless to act.

Conference, we will change that. By focusing on the interests of people and not providers.

But we can only do this by following the path set out by the founders of our Party. Shifting wealth and power into the hands of working people. And putting communities back in control.

Now, Conference, this won’t be an easy task, and I can’t deliver it alone. Building on the work of my predecessors Emma and Steve, my team are going to help me every step of the way: Ministers Emma and Stephen, and also Sue and Jenny; my Parliamentary Private Secretaries Jayne and Lee; and my advisers, working behind the scenes. And finally all of you – our Labour and trade union movement. Embedded in our communities, working day in, day out to deliver a country we can all be proud of. Thank you in advance.

Now, Conference, to put communities back in control we must do this by fixing the basics –  like our waste and water sectors. Deregulated and privatised by Thatcher in the 1980s. They stopped working for the people and places they were meant to serve.

In waste, what was once a local service you could depend on has now been infiltrated by organised criminals that extract profit at the expense of all of us. And who pays the price? Local people – stuck living next to unsafe, illegal waste sites that have been left to fester across our country. Conference, I have seen these sites. Mountains of waste, piled sky high by criminals who have had no fear of prosecution. Schools having to close because of the stench, fires breaking out, pollution that chokes the air.

Conference, we can’t let this continue. Since I became Secretary of State we have already shut down illegal sites in Hinckley, Peterlee, Hartlepool and Callerton. And cleared up another in Kidlington. 20,000 tonnes of waste removed.

And this is just the start. We are financing more drones, stepping up enforcement and empowering the National Crime Agency to bring these waste criminals to justice. We are cracking down on the criminals, seizing their assets and making them pay to clean up their own mess.

And on water, you all know we’ve inherited a broken system. An essential of life sold off by the Tories debt free. With weak regulation letting private companies borrow against debt free assets and extract the profits in dividends and bonuses. All the while neglecting essential investment. And people losing all control over what their bills actually paid for.

And what have the results been? Higher bills, critical infrastructure neglected and sewage pouring into our rivers and seas.

Conference, we’re already toughening enforcement with more than £133 million issued in fines since the election. And we’ve brought in new laws banning unfair and excessive bonuses.

And Conference, we intended to go further. As the Prime Minister said yesterday, the essentials of life must be controlled in the public interest. And that means fundamental reform of our water system. 

When the public turn on their taps, they get clean and safe water. When they go to their local beach or lake, they don’t have to worry about swimming in untreated sewage. And when they pay their bills, the money stays in the system and gets invested in the infrastructure we need, it’s not siphoned away by wealthy interests.

So now, for the first time in almost 4 decades, it will be the priorities of the people in our communities, not shareholders of water companies who decide where billions of pounds of water investment should go. With mayors and other local leaders playing a key role in setting those plans; finally forcing these companies to face the people they are meant to serve.

And where companies aren’t performing, we will tighten rules against unfair and extortionate bonuses. And leave those seeking to profit in no doubt that there will be serious repercussions for repeated failure.

Conference, as the Prime Minister set out yesterday, where private companies serve the public interest, we will support them. But all options must be on the table to fix them when they don’t.

To make that a reality we need to scrap the Thatcher-era ban on government owning shares in water companies. And that is exactly what I’ll do – paving the way towards greater levels of public control and alternative ownership models.

Conference, we aren’t making those changes because we like meddling with how markets work. We are making those changes because we know the damage done when they don’t. During our years in opposition, Britain became a poorer, more divided country. A country that seemed only to work for vested interests.

That’s why today, I’m announcing our Good Food Neighbourhoods Programme. Initially we’ll be supporting 45 communities – targeted at the areas with the highest levels of food inequality. Backed by £10million of investment, bringing fresh, affordable produce into neighbourhoods.

Creating community kitchens and supporting pensioners’ lunch clubs that tackle loneliness and hunger side by side. Because this is about more than what’s on someone’s plate. It’s about the ties that bind us together.

Conference, keeping Britain secure is our very first duty. Which is why, when we faced brutal droughts this summer I announced a £65million pound emergency package for farmers and why I made changes to planning policy, so they can build vital on farm reservoirs.

But I know this isn’t enough. I want our farmers to be able to look to the future with hope. But at the moment, farmers tell me that – after generations of farming their land – they can no longer turn a profit because of rising costs and constant droughts, and heatwaves straining our infrastructure.

Conference we must act. On day one in this new role I told my department that we need a fundamental change in how we view nature and farming. Because they are not competing issues to be traded off one against another – they are two sides of the same coin.

For farming to be profitable and resilient for years to come it must work hand in hand with nature. That’s why we have published a 25 year farming road map to set a direction of travel. And that’s why we are working with the farming and food partnership board to increase productivity and profitability. Starting with horticulture and poultry. And that kind of joint working is how we can maximise food production and environmental recovery

And Conference, let’s be honest. When it comes to the climate crisis, we are the only party treating it with the seriousness it deserves. Just look at Reform, who say we should all just “enjoy” the summer’s scorching heatwaves while firefighters risk their lives putting out wildfires.

Or take the Conservatives, who say we should ignore the evidence before our eyes and pretend climate change isn’t happening. Or treat it as a distant problem for some future generation to solve.

We have to act. Climate change is with us today. Climate change doesn’t impact all of us equally. This summer showed that. In areas where nature has been allowed to flourish, the ground held more water and the droughts were less severe. On streets where trees have been planted the shade meant temperatures were lower. And when rain finally came, those same trees reduced the risk of floods.

Conference, we all deserve access to the benefits that nature can bring. WHich is why today I’m announcing a £79million pound boost for communities to restore nature and help adapt to our changing climate. With £53million for local authorities and charities to plant half a million trees in towns, cities and villages across the country. Helping protect them from heatwaves and flooding for generations to come.

Alongside £26million for Local Nature Recovery to back local plans to harness nature; increasing resilience against extreme weather and improving access to green spaces.

That’s a Labour government delivering for our countryside, for our cities, and for nature.

The defining purpose of this Labour government is clear – to work in service of communities across the United Kingdom. Whether it’s adapting to a changing climate; whether it’s pressures on food security or essential services that are failing people. Now, there is no easy answer for any of these problems.

But our Party has never walked away from such challenges. Instead we work to solve them. Our Party has never left working people to face threats alone. We stand with them.

This Labour government will act. We will restore nature because it makes our country stronger. We will back British farmers because food security is national security. We will reform our water industry so it puts people first And we will bring hope back to our communities.