Guest election blog – Labour by James Gilbert

I am a freelance ecologist and Chartered Environmentalist. I first voted in the 1997 general election, and have not once voted blue. On 4 July I will be voting in the Corby and East Northants constituency. These are my key thoughts concerning the environmental content of the Labour election manifesto.

Things I like:

• Clean energy by 2030: fundamental in seriously tackling UK carbon emissions and energy insecurity. Labour plans to double onshore wind, triple solar power, and quadruple offshore wind by 2030 (It is good to have a target, but to me this one it feels improbable.)  
• No new fossil fuel licences and a fracking ban: an emphatic yes to this.
• Warm Homes Plan: to have a large-scale and affordable roll-out of domestic insulation and solar, etc., is crucial in reducing the UK’s carbon footprint and achieving Net Zero. Government incentivisation for greener homes has gone from modest to poor; opportunities have been wasted hence progress in this area has been unforgivably slow in recent years.
• Protecting nature: Labour taking action to meet the Environment Act targets is obviously welcome, and what I particularly like is specific reference to doing this ‘in partnership with civil society, communities and business’. To that end, the People’s Plan for Nature https://peoplesplanfornature.org/ would be a good starting point? The new Environment Secretary must invite help from civil society – and needs to, as Mark Avery has already pointed out to Steve Reed, former Shadow SoS for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs https://markavery.info/2024/06/08/dear-mr-reed-1/. The expansion of nature-rich habitats such as wetlands, peat bogs and forests is urgent.
• Circular economy: the manifesto states ‘Labour is committed to reducing waste by moving to a circular economy’ – it is odd that this (one and lonely) sentence is somewhat randomly tagged to the end of the ‘Protecting nature’ section…but at least it is there? A move to a (more) circular economy cannot come soon enough – it needs our immediate attention.

Things I don’t like:

• The words ‘environment’ and ‘climate’ are not referenced in Keir Starmer’s manifesto-opening remarks, nor are they within the text concerning Labour’s five national missions. Considering biodiversity loss and climate change are two of the biggest crises of our time, this is a depressing oversight (but not a surprising one).
• Labour will improve access to nature, promote biodiversity, and protect our landscapes and wildlife as mentioned in the opening paragraphs of the ‘Make Britain a clean energy superpower’ chapter. However, decent detail on this does not come further ahead in the (short) ‘Protecting nature’ section of this chapter.
• Labour implying in the manifesto that the Conservatives are to blame for Britain being one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, is just absurd and pathetic!
• Clean water: given the appalling and inexcusable state of our rivers and seas, it is clear that the water industry needs to be renationalised. Putting failing water companies (*all* water companies are failing in their environmental duties?) under special measures, and giving new powers to regulators, I very much doubt would be enough.
• National planning policy: I am surprised to learn that Labour would bring in planning reform, with the main aim of streamlining existing processes. As it stands, planning policy rightly favours ‘sustainable development’ and the rules/controls are fairly stringent in this regard. Environmental aspects to the making of plans and taking of decisions need to at least remain as robust as they are right now. 
• Rail transport: I would have liked to see many more words on constructing brand-new lines – along with some ambition to resurrect 1960s ‘Beeching-cut’ lines. We need and deserve a big push to (re)grow the rail network, because a comprehensive British rail system is vital for both a cleaner and closer-knit Britain.

Things that appear to be missing:

• Clean water (nutrient enrichment): sewage/wastewater is not the only concern — nutrient pollution with regard to farming and forestry practices, and road runoff, is also of huge, lasting detriment to the health of our waters, yet receives no mention?
• Unwavering government support for environmental public bodies: organisations such as the Environment Agency and Natural England, need to be better funded and resourced in order to properly protect and enhance our natural heritage in their respective ways.
• A tax on aviation fuel: given that aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, it has to be time to work something out on this.
• A new GCSE in Natural History: Labour does not (yet?) commit to introducing this new qualification, announced by the DfE in 2022. We as a society urgently need to address our lack of awareness and diminishing knowledge concerning the natural world, only then will we better respect it. A stronger desire to protect nature will come from sustaining our innate early years fascination.
• Extending people’s access to green and blue spaces: there is no mention of a Right to Roam Act (a right of responsible access). This is very disappointing because such an act, together with a Natural History GCSE, would go a large way in mending our fractured relationship with nature. We all should, by law, be able to responsibly explore the countryside, get to know places, become attached to them. And by doing this, a much greater number of us will be moved to shift from (largely) passively caring to actually acting, when certain land is threatened with damage or destruction.

Overall assessment: The Labour manifesto is quite close to being good on the environment and nature; it doesn’t go far enough to be ‘good’. Given the poor and declining state of nature right now, politicians/parties need to be brave and champion radical action.

Would I vote for these environmental policies?: probably yes, simply because they better align with my beliefs and values than those of the only realistic alternative party in the Corby and East Northants constituency.

This is one of a series of opinion pieces on the political parties’ 2024 general election manifestos. This piece was not originally commissioned by Wild Justice but was submitted by a newsletter subscriber. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Wild Justice.

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