England’s nature-friendly farming budget to be cut by £100m

Exclusive: Cut would mean at least 239,000 fewer hectares of nature-friendly farmland, according to RSPB

The government is to slash the nature-friendly farming budget in England by 100m in order to help fill what ministers say is a 22bn Treasury shortfall, the Guardian can reveal.

Nature groups and farmers have called this a big mistake", saying it jeopardised the government's legally binding targets to improve nature.