Tories Warn Fertiliser And Carbon Taxes Risk Undermining UK Food Security

Concerns over the impact of fertiliser and carbon-related taxes on UK agriculture have intensified, with senior Conservatives warning that current policies could threaten domestic food security and place further strain on already pressured farming businesses.

Kemi Badenoch has pledged to scrap the Government’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) if her party returns to power, arguing that the policy is adding significant cost pressures to farms reliant on fertiliser inputs.

The intervention comes amid growing political debate over the role of environmental taxation in agriculture, particularly as input costs remain volatile. Shadow Defra Secretary Victoria Atkins said increased fertiliser taxes were “putting our food security at risk”, warning that farmers are facing mounting financial pressure with limited support.

She added that a future Conservative government would seek to remove what it describes as “taxes holding farmers back”, including levies linked to fertiliser use, alongside wider business and inheritance tax changes affecting the sector.

At the centre of the debate is the CBAM policy, designed to apply carbon costs to imported goods such as fertilisers. While intended to level the playing field between domestic and overseas producers operating under different environmental standards, critics argue it risks increasing input costs for UK growers at a time when margins are already under pressure.

Industry concerns reflect a broader backdrop of rising production costs, with fertiliser prices, energy inputs and geopolitical disruption all contributing to heightened uncertainty across the supply chain. The reliance on fertiliser as a critical input means any sustained increase in cost could have downstream implications for domestic food production levels.

The Conservatives argue that reducing these cost burdens would help “get farmers farming again” and support UK food production capacity, framing the issue as one of both economic resilience and national food security.

However, the debate also highlights the ongoing tension between environmental policy objectives and the economic realities facing primary producers, particularly as the sector navigates the transition to lower-carbon systems while maintaining output.

With food security increasingly linked to both domestic production and global market stability, the direction of fertiliser and carbon taxation policy is likely to remain a central issue in the UK’s agricultural and political landscape.