Our new PM does seem like a welcome relief from Liz Truss but that is more a commentary on how dire things looked last week rather than how brilliant they look now.
Remember, Mr Sunak is from a grouse-shooting constituency – Richmond in Yorkshire. And he is, according to Shooting Times (a not always reliable source of information) a shooter too. Well, that’s not so unusual amongst Tory PMs – both David Cameron and Boris Johnson were said, pretty reliably, to have visited the moors of northern England a few times in the shooting season. But Sunak is embedded there – no doubt his constituency party members have a good sprinkling of wealthy grouse moors owners, given that his constituency’s eastern boundary reaches up onto the North York Moors, its western edge reaches through the Yorkshire Dales almost to the Lake District and its southern boundary abuts and includes a small portion of the Nidderdale AONB.
When Wild Justice, RSPB and Hen Harrier Action launched an e-action in 2020 asking for protection of birds of prey and to protect blanket bogs from burning then many MPs responded, including Mr Sunak. The then Chancellor’s response was interesting in that these responses are standard responses and usually come from one or two trusted sources, so give or take a word or two, all Tory MPs respond in the same way. Most Tory MPs included, with little thought probably, this paragraph:
‘The Government has always been clear of the need to phase out rotational burning of protected blanket bog to conserve these vulnerable habitats. Real progress is being made in promoting sustainable alternatives and I am pleased to tell you that legislation is being looked at which could help achieve this.‘
But not Mr Sunak. His equivalent paragraph was:
‘Real progress is being made in promoting sustainable alternatives to heather burning.‘
Quite a big difference, and quite a swerve for the Chancellor to make from the party line – but entirely understandable, though not laudable, if one wants to keep in with the richest members of one’s constituency.
But the Prime Minister is prepared to make hard decisions. Let’s see how many hard decisions he makes for the public good.
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The euphoria (amongst Conservatives) at Sunak’s appointment needs to be taken with a sea full of salt. Yes, he appears quite sane compared to the two before and has made a point of saying very little – to much criticism (mainly because journoes need column inches).
However, he was chancellor leading up to his economic crisis – its not as if he’s flown in from another planet – he must be a Brexiteer and there is little doubt he’s a believer in the conservative economics of the last 12 years that has left the country on its knees.
I’d predict that we won’t see the repeal of environmental legislation, but that the countryside will be in line for some hefty cuts. Alongside already decimated conservation budgets, I’ve increasingly felt that a lot of countryside money is going to go missing in the transition to a new agricultural regime – and I’m afraid the farmers have only themselves to blame. Instead of changing and making 21st C economic arguments they just bang on about the myth of food security. The outcomes won’t be happy – further intensification on the one hand and a drastic reduction in smaller farms. What happens in the uplands is anybodies guess.
Well said!!! The food security myth needs to be challenged properly, it’s being used as a tool by, among others, a reactionary group called Restore Trust to stop the NT from rewilding some of its farming properties, they’re calling it an ‘environmental fad’ which shows how thick they are TBH. Our conservation legislation is obviously under threat from Brexit, an issue that looks as if it’s to become a reality rather than a theoretical situation gloomily discussed by conservationists. It’s not just nature that looks set to suffer from leaving the EU the long term outlook for the economy looks bloody terrible according to that notorious left wing rag the FT. This country might have to go through a lot of pain on many fronts before it’s fully realised how bad Brexit was for now not so Great Britain, and we return to some sort of sanity for people and planet – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO2lWmgEK1Y