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In the Guardian today:

Half a million trees will be planted across England in the next three years to protect against extreme weather, the environment secretary, Angela Eagle, will pledge on Wednesday morning.

Mayors, local authorities, charities and grassroots groups will be given new funding and responsibilities for restoring natural landscapes such as wetlands, river edges and meadows, which can provide natural flood management and reduce the damage done by droughts.

The £79m package, to be set out in Eagle’s speech to the Labour party conference in Liverpool, will include £53m for tree-planting and £26m for “local nature recovery strategies”.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/30/half-million-trees-planted-england-three-years-angela-eagle

Scotland has planted substantially more new woodland than England over the last decade, typically accounting for the majority of UK woodland creation. Official statistics measure this primarily in hectares of new woodland (woodland creation), not individual trees; tree numbers are estimates that vary with species mix and planting density (often roughly 1,000–2,000 trees per hectare). 

Once more the Labour spads struggle with the sums. Half a million trees over three years, 170 000 per year, says Mrs Eagle. England plated 7.8 million new trees last year so that is a 2.2% increase per year.

In 2025/2026, the UK Labour government funded 5 250 hectares, around 7.8 million trees: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a3bca5230b491f55b3c487e/FC-Key-Performance-Indicators-Report-2025-26.pdf

In the same year, John Swinney’s government funded the planting of 7 220 hectares, 38% more, around 11 million trees.

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If you want to look further back, it gets worse:

Last 3 planting years (2023–24, 2024–25, 2025–26):

England: about 25.3 million trees

• 2023–24: 7.1 million
• 2024–25: 10.4 million
• 2025–26: 7.8 million

These are official Forestry Commission totals and include both new woodland and trees planted outside woodland.

Scotland: about 61 million trees

• 2023–24: ~30 million (15,040 hectares)
• 2024–25: ~17 million (8,470 hectares)
• 2025–26: ~14 million (7,220 hectares)

Scotland’s figures are converted from official woodland-creation hectares at roughly 2,000 trees per hectare, the rate used in Scottish Government reporting.

Together: roughly 86–87 million trees. Scotland planted more than twice as many as England over those three years.

So, over the last 3 years, Scotland plants more than 60 million and England only manages just over 25 million, less than one-third.

That half a million in three years, Angela, is not gonna look at it,

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