George Eustice has returned to his old job as Defra’s minister of state following his recent resignation over Brexit delays, with Zac Goldsmith also joining the department as under-secretary.
The pair will work under Thesea Villiers who wasrecently announcedas Defra's new secretary of state in Boris Johnson’s first cabinet as Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, Therese Coffey has been promoted from under-secretary of state to minister of state.
An avowed Brexiteer, Eustice said in his February resignation letter that he was leaving his ministerial post in opposition to Theresa May’s decision to offer MPs a vote to extend Article 50, leading to the extension of the deadline until the end of October.
He wrote: “I have stuck with the government through a series of rather undignified retreats. However, I fear that developments this week will lead to a sequence of events culminating in the EU dictating the terms of any extension requested and the final humiliation of our country.”
Now, with the pro-Brexit Johnson at Number 10, Eustice has retaken his former position and will play an important role in developing the new Agriculture Bill and Fisheries Bill, which will phase out EU Direct Payments over seven years and, according to Defra, deliver a “green Brexit”.
Goldsmith, the Conservative MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston, tweeted that his new combined role with the Department for International Development will focus on “work across Defra & DfID to expand Protected Areas around our overseas territories, continue Britain’s leadership Vs the Illegal Wildlife Trade, make sure nature recovery is at the heart of UK Aid, & that we raise animal welfare standards at home.”
He is a long-time campaigner on environmental issues.
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