On Monday the new Defra Secretary of State, Ranil Jayawardena, set out his plans for the future direction of his department in his first public speech. Touching on topics from soap-making to shipping salmon to Saudi Arabia, the new Secretary of State told the Conservative Party Conference that Defra should now be seen as an “economic growth department”, not a regulatory one.

Unfortunately, there was little in the speech to reassure us that the new UK Government will not seek to break their own 2019 Manifesto promises', or to loosen key environmental protections and drop pledges to encourage nature-friendly farming. Within the last two weeks alone, the Government has announced the Retained EU Law Bill which risks revoking hundreds of laws that protect wild places; a new Planning and Infrastructure Bill including Investment Zones which threaten to weaken vital protections for wildlife; launched a review of Environmental Land Management Schemes and lifted the ban on fracking. All of which are major concerns and risk further depleting the natural environment upon which we all depend.

To gain urgent clarity on the situation and seek assurances that Defra will not sacrifice nature at the altar of short-term growth, The Wildlife Trusts are calling on the new Secretary of State to meet with us as a matter of urgency. He has already found the time to meet with the NFU and other corporate bodies. Surely the Secretary of State can spare some time to discuss the serious concerns of an organisation that has championed nature for over 100 years, and represents more than 900,000 members from up and down the country?

The Speech

After portraying himself as an ‘Environmentalist’, the Secretary of State’s speech was dotted with well-known facts about nature’s decline and the link between GDP and nature. He rightly said that we rely on nature to provide us with food, water and clean air. Perhaps Mr Jayawardena hoped that would reassure environmental NGOs - and the thousands of concerned members of the public that have contacted their MPs in response to the attack on nature. This might have been fine if we were playing buzz-word bingo.

Growth and deregulation

Unfortunately, the speech then reverted to being all about growth and deregulation, proclaiming Defra as “an economic growth department” which considers economic growth its top priority. He boasted of his previous ability to “bulldoze” through regulations when at the Department for International Trade, and set out his intention to do the same at Defra.

There was little mention of how the majority of Defra’s environmental regulations and schemes will cope when the Minister’s bulldozer ploughs through to ‘cut red tape’. But the regulations that the Minister is talking about bulldozing are the very same ones that have been put in place to protect nature and limit its decline.

If allowed to thrive, nature can meet the challenge

Disappointingly, there was no reference to the importance of nature-based solutions and how restoring natural processes can help address many of the issues raised by the Secretary of State.

Nature can be the key to all the things that Mr Jayawardena says we need to strive for in his speech.

He talks of the need to “boost profitability” and “produce more food whilst using fewer resources”. He must recognise that nature is the key element to making this a reality, and he should champion the farmers who are bringing back nature and switching to regenerative agricultural practices. Studies have shown that switching to regenerative farming practises can boost profits for farmers when compared to those that stick with conventional techniques[1]. Making more space for nature on farms can also boost biodiversity without reducing food production[2], as nature steps in to provide important services like pest-management and pollination.

He outlines the need for “our flood defences to be strong, to protect life and property”. Nature-based solutions are again the key here. Restoring nature back into our uplands, creating wetlands and bringing back beavers are known to provide excellent flood defences for communities downstream, as well as providing a wealth of other benefits to the local community. Yet, there was no mention of restoring habitats. Nor was there reference to the legally-binding targets for air quality; water; biodiversity; and resource efficiency and waste reduction required by the Environment Act and due to come into force in October 2022.

The SoS talks about the scandal of water companies dumping sewage into our rivers and on our beaches. Rightly, he says that these companies must do better, but in the very same speech he talks of his pride at “bulldozing” barriers and says Defra should no longer be seen as a department that “imposes rules”. When we are once again paddling in poo, are we expected to be comforted by the fact that the SoS has given the water companies a stern talking to?

Is the UK Government reneging on their 2019 promises?

The 2019 Conservative Party manifesto is the mandate on which the current Government was voted in / on irrespective of the Party Leader and Ministerial Team. That manifesto promised to deliver “the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth”.  But, since Liz Truss became Prime Minster and Ranil Jayawardena started at Defra, many of the promises in the manifesto are at risk of being broken:

• The manifesto committed to maintain a moratorium of fracking which has now been rescinded – a broken promise. 
• On agriculture, the manifesto committed to “move to system based on ‘public money for public goods’” and that ‘in return for funding, [farmers] must farm in a way that protects and enhances our natural environment, as well as safeguarding high standards of animal welfare” [their emphasis] – at risk of being broken if the Government returns to area-based payments for farmers. 
• The manifesto also promised that in trade negotiations, the Conservatives would “not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards” – at risk of being broken through the Retained EU Law Bill, which will allow Minsters to revoke hundreds of laws that protect wild places and ensures standards for water quality, pollution and the use of pesticides.

Do the voters support UK Government’s approach?

Voters across the UK are clear that they do not support growth at all costs. The deregulation approach the Government is taking is not going to be a vote winner. 

New polling from Unchecked - published today - overwhelmingly shows that voters support regulation, with 74% either saying we have the right amount or need more in order to protect consumers and the environment.  Not only that but, more than half of those asked (53%) believe that regulations that protect workers and the environment should be strengthened, regardless of the impact on growth.  Only a fifth of those polled believe weaker labour market or environmental rules are a price worth paying in order to promote growth. 

The UK Government’s drive for growth at all costs is at odds with the voting public. 

In just over a week, more than 3,500 people have tweeted their MP and over 15,000 are angry enough about the Government’s threat to nature to have written their personal message to their MP or Councillors to lodge their objections.  You can join them here. 

We are in a nature crisis - we don’t need jokes about ‘endangered’ Lib Dems

We are in a climate and nature emergency, with the impacts being experienced across the country and around the world.  There were flash floods in Cumbria over the weekend and species are continuing to decline at a faster rate than any time in our history. Just last week, BirdLife International published data reporting that nearly half of all bird species are in decline, with more than one in eight at risk of extinction. Mr Jayawardena himself founded an All Party Parliamentary Group on endangered species. Yet, when referring to that in his speech, he felt it appropriate to make jokes about other political parties. 

The seriousness of the nature and climate emergencies we are facing are no laughing matter.  We need Ministers who are going to take these challenges seriously and who are going to make the right decisions. The Government does not have a mandate to rip up the regulations that protect the natural environment. Protecting and restoring the natural environment for us and future generations is the responsibility of all of us. The SoS spoke of the “collective responsibility we all share to protect our environment”. However, yesterday’s speech did nothing to reassure The Wildlife Trusts that the SoS is taking the importance of his role seriously enough. His deregulation actions are already speaking louder than his glib words. This will come at a significant cost to us all.

Katherine Hawkins is Living Landscapes Manager at The Wildlife Trusts; Dr Joe Llanos is Policy and Information Officer at The Wildlife Trusts. See The Wildlife Trusts’ press release.