Guest election blog – Labour by Derek Gow

I am a wildlife ecologist who has worked on reintroduction projects for species such as the water vole, Eurasian beaver and the white stork. I have written three books, the last of which – The Hunt for The Shadow Wolf – was published by Chelsea Green in March 2024. 

As this is my second review, I am confident that I have no need to repeat a prescribed layout. Mark, Chris and Ruth will be clement and allow me some space for modest scene setting.   

Imagine, if you can, a family bereavement. It’s a distant relative, not someone you adore and they have passed peacefully in their small house full of dust, chintz and ghastly figurines from the 1950’s in the back streets of St Albans. As they were prudent there is a will and along with a sisal-bound hoard of old women’s weekly magazines, a half-drunk bottle of advocaat and some red cabbage seedlings you have been allocated the ownership of their dog.

It’s neither old or young. Large or small. Hostile nor enthusiastic. 

You don’t already own a dog but realise that there is no rational basis to resent it for simply being what it is – a dog. As you view each other uneasily across the length of your dead relatives barren kitchen the pluses of the situation unfolding seem positive. More walks for the dog is more exercise for you. A good bath, a change of diet and an excursion to a grooming parlour could transform your new ward into a decent companion. The negatives? Well, your imaginary pluses are all baseless and it may bite your new boyfriend, inflame his asthma beyond the point of purple endurance and more worryingly incur a vets bill for the removal of the walnut like growth on its lower jowl – which results in it dribbling quite a lot – that makes NASA’s next bill for a Mars space mission look mundane. 

Either way your imaginings are baseless and all that’s for sure is you’re about to exit the land of the blandly dogless. 

It is my belief that emotions roused by the above can be fairly applied to the prospect of a next Labour government. 

So, let’s begin with neutrality. 

I remember sitting once in a bar in Bavaria watching farmers spit while Tony Blair on TV put his case for the renegotiation of the Common Agricultural Policy. But whatever aspirations grinning Tone may have cherished for the wider social reallocation of this loot – day care centres for small kids disadvantaged by big ears or new merry-go-rounds for incontinent pensioners – were shot down by a fusillade of nons, neins and nees from industrial farming interests whose only toxic desire was to bless every bee with breast cancer. Defeated on that front he then tried to outsmart the wily fox hunters who mounted up to outflank his clumsy manoeuvrings in order to perpetuate forever their own pointless vileness. Remember foot and mouth ? Well, that came next and although there were foetal murmurings of a different countryside deal at that time, they were lanced through by bold Sir Ben Gill from the NFU on his weary warhorse Status Quo and failed to draw breath. Amidst this brouhaha some Labour ministers – before they were jailed for embezzlement – gave the impression that nature was vaguely important.

Good people like Hilary Benn who might have made a difference came way too late to the fray.

So, while in power Labour stuck with the science and refused to throw any badgers to the lynch mobs, as a political force they have no clearer track record of environmental commitment than any other form of UK government. Though the party recognises that the climate crisis is accelerating the downfall of nature it remains to be seen if they intend to make any real difference. Although their promise to expand nature-rich habitats such as wetlands, peat bogs and forests is welcome, what does its stated purpose of enabling ‘families to explore’  actually mean ? Along with the pledge to create nine river walks – where our millions strong dog herd can froth, float and flounder – and other ‘national forests’ will these actions not simply cater for the recreational requirements of people ? 

Bialowiezas they will not be .  

But perhaps there is hope.

If it’s clear that the befoulment of our freshwaters has captured both public and political attention then chaining together in perdition of the responsible water company executives in the bilges of barges moored off Portland will achieve nothing if the 70% of toxic silts, fertilisers, pesticides and disease-ridden slurries released by farming are not additionally addressed. While commitments to ban the cruelty of snares will displease the serfs of the grouse lords and trail hunting’s removal will hopefully unhorse the apocalyptic any real change in the fortunes of nature can only come from the reshaping of our landscape on a massive scale. We have created the dead zones of now. If we wish to resuscitate what’s left of our wildlife then a rapid remoulding’s required. Farming must be a first priority and the snarling old Cerberus of the NFU should be taken by its new political masters to an immediate  appointment of a veterinary sort which when it leaves 2 stones lighter will ensure meek, future compliance.   

The lowering of the voting age is a bold initiative and it must be accompanied by the assumption of brave Mary Colwell’s environmental curriculum to inform the generations who have a future that is long. The creation from their ranks of legions who care will be essential if any battle to save what’s left of our dying planet is to not end in defeat. Decent people who assist them must be nurtured to become the custodians of the new wetlands we will need to alleviate both flooding and drought as the earth warms. Any scrub allowed to burst forth from pastures that enables autumn ouzels to wax fat for their African flights or flower filled rough grasslands or green-gladed wood pastures should together tumble into their purlieu. Beavers must be reintroduced immediately without witless restriction into every river system to defibrillate what little life remains until in a time that’s far distant every creature whose beating heart draws breaths, bounds or shimmies can exist once again on their own.

Perhaps prosaically the Tories in their tumultuous rout may have left commandments of worth that could be captured. The Environment Act of 2021 despoiled as it’s been in the dank lair of the great troll Therese could – after disinfection – be raised as a banner by a new Labour government imbued with both passion and purpose to rally on high a real movement now to recover the earth.

This is one of a series of opinion pieces on the political parties’ 2024 general election manifestos. They were commissioned by Wild Justice several months ago by approaching a wide variety of conservationists and environmentalists long before the date of the general election was known. Some people who originally agreed to write pieces found the date and short timescale impossible and had to back out. We did not know what they would write and their only brief was to pick one or two political parties’ election manifestos and tell us what they liked and didn’t like about their environmental policies. We didn’t tell people what to write and we haven’t edited what they wrote (except to squeeze things into a common format, to correct minor grammatical and spelling errors and typos). The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Wild Justice.

If you think you could produce a review of one of the 2024 general election manifestos then we would need to receive it as soon as possible, but in any case before 26 June, in a similar format to that above, as a word file and with a .jpg or .png image of yourself, the author. Send any potential texts to admin@wildjustice.org.uk and we will look at them. We’ll let you know if we want to publish your piece and we may be able to pay you a small amount for it.