Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, was on pugnacious form at a parliamentary reception hosted by Joan Walley MP yesterday. He was responding to Link’s assessment of the coalition Government’s track record on the environment.
It was good to see him engaging in discussion on issues as diverse as including invasive species, planning reform, bees and badgers. It is through lively debate that you achieve better public policy outcomes.
Perhaps the most colourful part of the session was about threats to funding to tackle the farmland wildlife crisis.
He resented the amber assessment awarded by Link (the classic ‘could do better’) for the Government’s performance on reform of the Common Agriculture Policy. He vehemently restated his commitment to ensure public money is only given in return for public goods which is why he is in favour of protecting funding for wildlife friendly farming (under the so-called Pillar II).
Image copyright Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
This is great! We want to see our Secretary of State fighting for this bit of the EU Budget.
He was perhaps slightly less convincing that, when the inevitable EU Budget horse-trading recommences in January, the Prime Minister would protect Pillar II spending with as much vigour as the other UK Government red lines (overall size of budget and the UK rebate).
Mr Paterson is travelling to Brussels today to continue the debate with the other 26 EU agriculture ministers. It is reassuring to know that he’ll be making all the right noises about CAP reform.
He won’t be alone.
Conservationists, farmers, volunteers and industry experts are also gathering in Brussels to take part in a conference on wildlife friendly farming. I’m chairing the event which is designed to celebrate the success of an RSPB project which has supported farmers who want to help farmland wildlife recover.
Through the project, which was funded by the EU LIFE+ Programme, we’ve engaged, enthused and advised thousands farmers across the UK on how to deliver top quality habitat management for the benefit of farmland wildlife as part of a profitable farming business. The conference aims to show how similar activities could work in other countries across Europe.
We and, I trust, the Secretary of State will be saying the same thing – don’t cut the life from the countryside – reform the CAP but protect funding for wildlife friendly farming.
Steady on Peter - we are not actually in charge of the EU Budget or CAP reform process. It should be no surprise that we have long argued for phase out of direct payments and the creation of a single environmental fund which genuinely sees public money being used to reward public goods. But that is not on the table. As a result we try to influence the debate as shaped by the Commission, the Parliament and Heads of State. The sad truth is that radical CAP reform (along the lines you suggest) will now have to wait until the next round. Frustrating, but true. If you want to be reminded of our opening position as entering the Budget negotiations - please do read the Changing Perspectives report - www.birdlife.org/.../Changing_Perspectives_101201.pdf or our Challenge 2010 report - www.rspb.org.uk/.../challenge_tcm9-238034.pdf. Both reports offer economic analysis of where savings could be made and where new spend could be found.