Keir Starmer is plunging us towards a nightmare before Christmas – one thing will stop it
Prime Minister should not break a manifesto pledge to millions of people, writes Wildlife Trusts chief executive Craig Bennett
Keir Starmer (Image: Getty)
A nightmare before Christmas is looming. The Government is preparing to break more promises to the millions of people who care about the frightening decline of our natural world – and in so doing, threaten wildlife and the wild places we all know and love.
Following months of anti-nature rhetoric, last week the Prime Minister took aim at wildlife yet again. Excited by the recent industry-led Taskforce on Nuclear Energy proposals to “fast-track nuclear energy”, the PM pledged to give the green light to its recommendations to undermine rules that protect our most precious wildlife sites. Removing these rules could devastate wildlife, which is already on its knees after decades of decline, and allow nuclear developments to bypass existing regulations.
Worse still, this build-at-any-cost approach could be on the cards for “every corner of our economy”, as Keir Starmer proudly said in his speech.
We’ve seen time and again how the Prime Minister and his next-door neighbour, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, repeat the cliches perpetuated by powerful industry lobbyists that falsely blame nature as a blocker to growth.
But they’re not true, and developers have admitted this. Instead, a variety of other factors, such as building costs and a skills shortage, are the real reasons behind slow development.
But blaming nature is easy and lazy, ignoring the real reasons why the economy is struggling and the UK’s shameful status as one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. It also ignores the millions of wildlife lovers across the UK who voted for this Government on the promise of nature’s recovery.
Bat tunnels and fish discos may have attracted headlines in recent months, billed as the unrealistic and expensive demands of extremist greenies, but, in reality, it has been the infrastructure developers themselves who have proposed these last-minute bolt-on measures, after failing to think properly about nature from the outset. Then, when developers inevitably fail to meet deadlines and must cut costs, they cry foul, try to wriggle out of their obligations and blame these interventions for holding up progress.
Many businesses tasked with building much-needed homes have also joined charities like The Wildlife Trusts to raise alarm at Government plans to undermine Biodiversity Net Gain, a scheme through which developers pay to help nature.
Rumour has it that the Government now plans to pull the rug from under the scheme, collapsing the market just as it is starting to deliver new jobs and nature benefits.
It’s not too late to put nature back on track. It’s time for No 10 to end this divisive, outdated, 1970s approach that pits nature and the economy against each other and start to get behind more modern thinking – we can and must restore our natural infrastructure alongside building new infrastructure and homes, creating jobs and growth.
That way, we can make Britain a richer place to be, in every sense of the word.
