If Great Britain has long been characterised by a high degree of concern for the protection and management of its rural environment, the introduction of a specific EU led agri-environmental policy has both highlighted the British tradition for supporting environementally sensitive farming systems and exposed the particularity of the British position with respect to other EU member States. The first member State to introduce a network of ESAs in 1985, Great Britain has subsequently fallen behind in the full implementation of agri-environmental policy as laid out in the 1992 regulation. This paper describes the emergence of British agri-environmental policy and considers the reasons behind the current position adopted by Britain with respect to subsequent agri-environmental regulation and, crucially, CAP reform.
