The Environment and Brexit

It was disappointing but predictable that the environment didn't feature in the Brexit debate. It's just not seen as a vote winner - yet. The vast majority of environmentalists were "remainers", including the Wildlife Trusts, who pointed to the raft of EU regulation which has protected endangered habitats and species, improved water and air quality, restricted planning consents, encouraged renewable energy, etc..There are also concerns that cuts in farming subsidies following Brexit might lead to lower benefits for farmers wanting to improve biodiversity on their patch. We wait to see what a post Brexit world is going to look like, specifically a post Brexit world with Andrea Leadsom as Minister for the Environment. Commentators are studying the tea leaves. She seems to have been a climate change sceptic with an inconsistent voting record - mixed on fracking and fuel taxes. She voted for the sale of State owned forests and wants the fox hunting ban repealed. While not wanting to pre-judge her, I'm rather gloomy. UK governments at both ends of the political spectrum have been poor on the environment, left to their own devices. As for the current administration, it's clearly not a priority for them, as this week's abolition of the Department of Energy and Climate Change suggests. Agri-environment schemes will look like luscious low hanging fruit for a new administration keen to cut "red tape" and subsidies. Stand by for much talk about the New Zealand experience. My guess is that we will head towards even more intensive use of farmland with many small scale producers going bust, particularly if casual labour becomes more expensive. I just don't see a willingness to embrace progressive ideas on land use either, to combat flooding, for example. Sadly, as usual, the environment looks set to become an ideological football.