Green Crap Redux
David Cameron's "green crap" moment was deeply depressing. Not just because of the policy change it indicated, but because it suggested the electorate didn't care about it. The environment had never been a vote winner, and here in 2013 was proof the Conservatives realised it still wasn't. Now it looks as if green crap is coming back, with a vengeance.
Michael Gove's startling speech on farm subsidies post Brexit was met with a cautious but universal welcome from the environmental lobby. Today we had the government's 25 year environmental plan. There's lots in it which is bang on in terms of aspiration, but as the Conservative chair of the Environment Committee commented, desperately short on detail. It begs far more questions than it answers, and its credibility, given the government's track record in funding the Environment Agency, energy, pollution, etc. etc., is - well, let's just say the jury is out. Theresa May's own voting record is hardly suggestive of hidden eco-credentials. In fact, it's a shocker. There's no joined up thinking in the plan either. Plastic waste in our oceans is a secondary threat after acidification and climate change - an area where UK policy has disintegrated. In future times, if genuine, I suspect the government's Damascene conversion will seem absurdly modest and overdue. On the other hand, it may just be political opportunism. Whichever, it is, however, a watershed moment. It's important because senior ministers suddenly seem to think the environment is a vote winner.* Let's connect with millennials in an area where Labour, too, have been weak. Let's convert all those millions of young Blue Planet watchers into turquoise Tories. Hugging a husky in 2006 looked like naive, off-script green wash. I have canvassed on environmental issues on the Somerset Levels. Even there - perhaps amazingly - issues like climate change didn't seem to matter very much. Today's plan may or may not be green wash, but it's calculated and very much on script. That's what's exciting about it. *Credit for this seems to go to Conservative think tank Bright Blue.
Michael Gove's startling speech on farm subsidies post Brexit was met with a cautious but universal welcome from the environmental lobby. Today we had the government's 25 year environmental plan. There's lots in it which is bang on in terms of aspiration, but as the Conservative chair of the Environment Committee commented, desperately short on detail. It begs far more questions than it answers, and its credibility, given the government's track record in funding the Environment Agency, energy, pollution, etc. etc., is - well, let's just say the jury is out. Theresa May's own voting record is hardly suggestive of hidden eco-credentials. In fact, it's a shocker. There's no joined up thinking in the plan either. Plastic waste in our oceans is a secondary threat after acidification and climate change - an area where UK policy has disintegrated. In future times, if genuine, I suspect the government's Damascene conversion will seem absurdly modest and overdue. On the other hand, it may just be political opportunism. Whichever, it is, however, a watershed moment. It's important because senior ministers suddenly seem to think the environment is a vote winner.* Let's connect with millennials in an area where Labour, too, have been weak. Let's convert all those millions of young Blue Planet watchers into turquoise Tories. Hugging a husky in 2006 looked like naive, off-script green wash. I have canvassed on environmental issues on the Somerset Levels. Even there - perhaps amazingly - issues like climate change didn't seem to matter very much. Today's plan may or may not be green wash, but it's calculated and very much on script. That's what's exciting about it. *Credit for this seems to go to Conservative think tank Bright Blue.