Poll blow for Chancellor - wildlife laws should not be weakened

On the day that the Government is set to unveil the results of its review of environmental regulation (the so-called Red Tape Challenge), an exclusive YouGov opinion poll commissioned by Greenpeace and the RSPB has found that only 4% of voters feel that laws safeguarding Britain’s wildlife and countryside are too strong. In contrast, a majority of respondents 40% felt they were too weak, whilst another 37% think the current rules are about right. 

This might not be what George Osborne, Danny Alexander or Francis Maude (the architect of the red tape challenge) want to hear.  But it came as no surprise to me.  The results of this poll confirms what we have been saying for a long time, that people in the UK care deeply about the environment and our native wildlife and want to see it protected.

The poll reinforces the results of the Government's own consultation.  I predict this will be the last of the Coalitions ill fated 'crowd sourcing' exercises.  The idea was to get a groundswell of popular support for what they expected to be populist measures.  Things went awry for them with environmental regulation because well over 90% of respondents either supported existing protections or called for more!  If the Government really had any genuine intention of listening to popular support - they'd be seeking to strengthen, not weaken it. Inconviniently for them, the Red Tape Challenge offers no legitimacy to reducing environmental protection.

Given the understandable need to create jobs and growth, the Chancellor and others have allowed themselves to be led by anecdote from business and development interests rather than meaningful evidence on the needs of the British economy. 

There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest protection of the environment is a barrier to economic growth but plenty to suggest smart regulation is actually a stimulus to growth. A report by the Aldersgate Group (a consortium of businesses and NGOs) concluded that there was "a growing body of evidence to show that environmental regulation stimulates innovation and presents new business opportunities.  In terms of jobs, environmental regulation is likely to have a positive impact, or at worst be neutral".

To be honest, the previous government had its own deregulatory agenda and even flirted with the concept of regulatory budgets - a silly idea where you were obliged to drop a piece of legislation for every new one created.  This Government has fallen in to the same trap.  As Lord Adair Turner, Chairman of the Financial Services Authority, says "We shouldn't regulate for its own sake, but over-regulation and red tape has been used as a polemical bludgeon.  We have probably been over-deferential to that rhetoric".

I do find it odd.   It is clear that regulation is essential to address the major challenges of our times, such as climate change and managing our finite natural resources. The financial crisis and the BP Gulf of Mexico 2010 oil spill are just two examples which demonstrate the economic and social costs associated with not addressing fully systemic risks.  It would be a brave polititian indeed to suggest we replace regulation in the criminal justice system, or replace medical safeguards or immigration control with voluntary initiatives of self assessment procedures or regulated codes of conduct.

Ben Hall rspb-images.com

Notwithstanding Damian Carrington's piece in the Guardian on Friday, I remain relatively calm about the results of the red tape challenge this afternoon.  I have a feeling that Defra has managed the process well - the results will no more than a simple clearning up exercise.  This would be fine provided that the core purpose of existing laws are maintained and that they do consult on any changes.  I do however, have some anxieties that a rapid consolidation of regulations might lead to some perverse consequences.  And, of course, the devil will be in the detail or the rhetoric.  My guess is that they will wait until later in the week to announce the detail of the Habitats Regulations review (which continues to give me sleepless nights). 

This afternoon I hope that the red tape challenge results are presented with slightly more moderate language than when launched this time last year.  The message then was that every piece of legislation had to prove itself or it would be cut.  And, it would be extremely damaging if the conclusion was from now on we should be relying on voluntary approaches to environmental problems.

These are tense times for the environment.  The Budget this week has the potential to be a Black Wednesday for the environment if the Government unveils an attack on environmental legislation and new planning guidance which fails our wildlife sites.

When the dust has settled on the announcements this week, we will know what we are dealing with.  And if the outcome is bad, we will not give up or despair.  We (that's me, you and the millions of people that care about our wildlife and natural heritage) will roll up our sleeves and fight with everything that we have to protect the places we love.

Watch out for the Red Tape Challenge announcement this afternoon and let me know what you think.