The Lobbying Act is really important and quite complicated so I’ll do my best to explain some things here. It’s worth saying upfront that I have spoken to various friends in NGOs about this issue and it is very clear that the Act is making many charities extremely nervous about speaking out about any…
Category: THE POLITICS: Ministers, MPs, government policy
Today fails to ask Defra Secretary questions on environmental protection
Michael Gove has just run rings around the Today programme (at 08:10, 2hours 10 mins into programme) in his first interview as Environment Secretary. He was asked about funding for farming and pointed out that he agreed with the Conservative election manifesto. That was hard! But he did say that he was meeting the NFU…
And after High Peak? Calder Valley and Carmarthen West
I was very pleased to see that High Peak returned to Labour on Friday. The seat looked winnable, although a bit of a stretch, and clearly it was. The former Conservative MP, Andrew Bingham, had consistently voted for increasing restrictions on campaigning, against benefit improvements, for cuts in welfare spending, against gay rights, against measures…
Where was the environment?
Discussion of environmental matters was largely absent from the general election campaign. This may be for the real but unfortunate reason that the environmental doesn’t hold much sway in elections. For those of us who are strongly motivated by environmental issues we have to realise that we are a rather small minority. But accepting that…
The new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Conservative manifesto promised that ‘Once EU law has been converted into domestic law, parliament will be able to pass legislation to amend, repeal or improve any piece of EU law it chooses‘. But they wouldn’t do that would they? The Conservatives wouldn’t start to dismantle the Birds Directive or the Habitats and Species Directive…
Just for the record
And: Brighton Pavilion – Caroline Lucas wins with 52% of votes. Very pleased. Bristol East – Kerry McCarthy wins with 61% of votes. Very pleased. Calder Valley – so close! Only c650 votes in it, but Josh Fenton-Glynn comes second to Craig Whittaker. Corby – Beth Miller ran Tom Pursglove close but my MP…
And the Blackbird still sings…
Wow! I wasn’t expecting that. Were you? I spent yesterday from 10:30am until 9pm, obviously with some breaks, phoning up potential Labour voters to get the vote out. I phoned hundreds of people, and spoke to scores of them. I spoke to some confused people and I spoke to some very nice people. I…
May is in the past and Corbyn is the future
It seems as though this general election was set up to be a personality contest between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn – that isn’t what it should be, but it might be an important part of people’s decision making. May has looked anything but strong and stable whereas Corbyn has grown in stature through the…
Brexit – so that’s all very clear then?
If the general election is about Brexit then we should by now have a clear idea of what will happen to environmental protection and agricultural policy after Brexit. In particular, we should have a clear idea from the Conservative Party, although Labour (the only realistic alternative government (even though, in places other parties’ candidates may…
Seats I’ll be watching
I’m a Labour voter (and with more enthusiasm this election than in some) but I’ll be looking out for the result in particular constituencies as well as the overall result. Here are some of the constituencies that will make or break my day: Brighton Pavilion – a win for Caroline Lucas will please me Bristol…