There has also been little engagement from the cabinet with key stakeholders, including green groups and farming leaders apart from the National Farmers’ Union, a supporter of scrapping Elms. Scrapping them would return the UK to subsidising intensive agricultural production at the expense of nature. Championed as a “Brexit dividend”, Elms were meant to reward farmers for protecting nature, offering “public money for providing public goods”. The environmental land management contracts for farmers are being reviewed. New investment zones threaten a regulatory vacuum where developers can ignore rules on water quality, species conservation and space for nature.Ī bonfire of EU regulations could put paid to more than 500 rules protecting the natural world, from wildlife habitats to water quality.įracking has been given the green light, and more than 100 new licences for oil and gas drilling will be granted in the North Sea.Ī nod to onshore wind was the only low-carbon measure of any note in the “mini-budget” on Friday.
The list of anti-green policies from a cabinet just a few weeks old is already extensive: “The government cannot have been expecting this strong a reaction.” “It’s a very strong reaction,” said Tom Burke, co-founder of the green thinktank E3G, and a veteran adviser to governments. Swiftly after came the Wildlife Trust, representing another million members and also “incredibly angry … at the unprecedented attack on nature”, and the National Trust, with more than 5 million members.įor veteran green campaigners, the strength and speed of the intervention was striking.
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