The current rules state: “The availability of agricultural land used for food production should be considered… when deciding what sites are most appropriate for development.”
The wording was introduced by Rishi Sunak’s government last December to stem the tide of solar farms, which are cropping up on prime agricultural land.
A new draft version of the National Planning Policy Framework published by Ms Rayner’s department shows the sentence has been scrubbed out.
Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, said: “Our good farmland should be used for food production, not enormous solar farms.
“That’s why I made changes to protect our best agricultural land in government and made it easier to put panels on rooftops.
“However Ed Miliband, in his first few weeks, has signed off thousands of acres of farmland for solar panels in order to meet his costly climate targets.
“We cannot put our food security at risk or ramp up energy bills in the name of Labour’s climate policy.”
Impact on food production
It comes after Mr Miliband overruled planning inspectors to give the go-ahead for a solar farm and energy storage infrastructure covering 2,792-acre of prime agricultural land in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
The decision came despite the planning inspectorate urging him to reject the project, citing the impact that it would have on food production.
In its report, officials directly cited the changes to the rules made by Mr Sunak as one of the main reasons behind their objection.
In response, Mr Miliband said that he believed the need to produce more green energy “outweighs the effectively permanent loss of food production”.
He also approved two other sites, both in Lincolnshire, which will cover around 2,000 acres each and were opposed by local residents and councillors.
The proposed changes to the planning rules have been put out to consultation, with Ms Rayner set to make a final decision on them in the autumn.
If as expected she goes through with the move to remove the protections for agricultural land, it will make it easier for solar farms to be approved in future.
The planning framework will still include a requirement that “areas of poorer quality land should be preferred to those of a higher quality” where possible.