'Everything seems to be tomorrow' - farmers react to Gove's #NFU18 speech

“This review is not only long overdue, but also timely as we design future farming policy and maximise the opportunities of leaving the EU.”

Mr Gove also suggested cash currently given to the EU, over and above what is spent on farm payments, could be used to provide broadband and 4G coverage in rural areas.

He said: “We are planning to spend north of £60 billion on HS2, 30 times as much as it would cost to provide superfast broadband.

“Surely investment in broadband is a vital, urgent part of improving our critical national infrastructure?

“Universal broadband and 4G coverage for all, which could be paid for by the money we no longer have to give to the EU. That is what we mean by taking back control.”

The theme of public money for public goods was returned to again, with Mr Gove reiterating his belief environmental protection was the most important public good of all.

But he also outlined some other things farmers can be expected to be paid for in future, such as preserving rural culture, providing greater public access to the countryside and high animal welfare.

“Cumbria and Northumberland, the Yorkshire Dales and Pennine Lancashire would not be as they are, both as breathtakingly beautiful and as resilient, without upland farmers,” he said.

“Men and women are hefted in those hills just as much as the sheep they care for. And preserving profitable farm businesses in those communities is just as much a public good as investment in anything I know.”