Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish his Department's plans for rural communities in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

On leaving the EU, the UK will have an independent trade policy and a new agriculture policy to replace the Common Agricultural Policy. As a result, the impact of the UK’s departure from the EU on rural communities will depend not just on the shape of a UK-EU trade agreement but also on the Government’s future trade and agriculture policies once we have left the EU.

In England Defra is the lead department for rural affairs but issues relating to rural communities are the responsibility of departments across Government. The Government is undertaking a comprehensive and wide ranging programme of ongoing analysis in support of our preparations for leaving the EU.