Environment ministers were accused yesterday of spending up to £500,000 on rebranding their department at the same time as vital public grants were being cut. Tory MPs accused the Government of concentrating on "slogans and spin" rather than practical policies. Shadow environment secretary David Lidington asked Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael: "Do you not understand the quite justified resentment that there is in our rural communities at the waste of both time and money on rebranding exercises when, to take just one example, your department's rural payments agency is persistently late in delivering to British farmers the payments to which they are entitled and on which the cash flow of their businesses may depend?" The shadow minister said £329,000 was spent on the rebranding with an additional £200,000 for erecting new signs. Mr Michael defended the need for the changes and rejected criticisms of policies. He said: "A lot of work has gone into making Defra an efficient organisation that serves the public interest and is focused on the needs of its customers. "We seek to be a department which is modern, professional and forward-looking and we want that reflected by a new sense of confidence within our staff and for the public to see the effects of change and modernisation. "The rebranding exercise is just one part of that work, helping to establish a new identity and to explain the role and purpose of the new department. "The new department takes on enormously important responsibilities for the environment, all the things that are necessary for life and the quality of life, for farming and food, for rural economies, for fisheries." He said the cost included "scoping the project, producing briefings, listening to consumers" and only £24,000 was spent developing a new logo. He said fears that the Countryside Agency would be spending over budget had been "brought under control". | 
