Skip to main content
Ministerial role

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Organisations: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Current role holder: The Rt Hon Dame Angela Eagle DBE MP

Responsibilities

The Secretary of State has overall responsibility for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

She has specific responsibilities for:

  • budget, including Official Development Assistance (ODA)
  • international relations
  • senior appointments
  • economic growth

Current role holder

The Rt Hon Dame Angela Eagle DBE MP

Dame Angela Eagle DBE was appointed Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 20 July 2026.

She has previously held the following ministerial roles:

  • Minister of State at the Home Office (Security Minister) and the Cabinet Office, from 12 June 2026 to 20 July 2026
  • Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), from 6 September 2025 to 12 June 2026
  • Minister for Border Security and Asylum at the Home Office, from 8 July 2024 to 6 September 2025

She was elected as the MP for Wallasey in the general election of July 2024.

More about this person

Previous holders of this role

  1. The Rt Hon Emma Reynolds MP

    2025 to 2026

  2. The Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP

    2024 to 2025

  3. The Rt Hon Steve Barclay MP

    2023 to 2024

  4. The Rt Hon Thérèse Coffey

    2022 to 2023

  5. The Rt Hon Ranil Jayawardena

    2022 to 2022

  6. The Rt Hon George Eustice

    2020 to 2022

  7. The Rt Hon Theresa Villiers

    2019 to 2020

  8. The Rt Hon Michael Gove

    2017 to 2019

  9. The Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom

    2016 to 2017

  10. The Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss

    2014 to 2016

  11. The Rt Hon Owen Paterson

    2012 to 2014

  12. Dame Caroline Spelman

    2010 to 2012