The Brexit Freedoms Bill is announced but not yet published so we don’t exactly know what will be in it but it is one to watch (with one’s fingers crossed). In her Telegraph article the Attorney General tries to persuade us that EU laws were undemocratic despite the fact that we voted to join the…
Category: THE POLITICS: Ministers, MPs, government policy
Reshuffle
It is difficult to feel very worked up about the reshuffle. It is a reshuffle of a pack of knaves and jokers. At DEFRA, George Eustice remains – I feel more favourable to Mr Eustice than do many. It’s not as though I can imagine myself ever voting for him but he has served a…
Grouse shooting in the shared policy programme for the Scottish government
The draft shared policy document that forms the basis for a political alliance between the SNP and Scottish Green Party runs to a concise 51 pages. The document has six sections , two of which relate to the climate emergency and Scotland’s natural environment. It is good to see these alongside consideration of Scotland’s place…
The quinquennial review
Every five years (isn’t quinquennial a lovely word?) the UK statutory agencies review various lists of ‘protected’ species. A regular review is a good idea for any biological list, including lists of conservation priority. However, in this case, the recommendations have led to uproar as the statutory agencies have ganged up on a range of…
Utterly feeble DEFRA action greeted with joy by Tony Juniper and gritted teeth by Julian Glover
The following statement was made by the Secretary of State for DEFRA, George Eustice MP, in parliament on Thursday: Statement In May 2018, Defra commissioned Julian Glover and an independent panel to consider how we might improve the management of our National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs). Their report, the Landscapes Review,…
Eustice disappoints
Just over three weeks ago, George Eustice made quite good speech, but you should never go overboard on praising government departments for speeches when they have to act later to make those words into reality. This week, amendments were published to the Environment Bill which fall far short of what it seemed we would get…
Good things and bad things
If you are subscribed to my free monthly newsletter then last week you would have received my thoughts on George Eustice’s environment speech – there were good bits and less good bits. The most worrying looking bit was the announcement that DEFRA was going to fiddle about with the Habitats Regulations now that we are…
Pow on Woman’s Hour
This was a cracking interview of Rebecca Pow, DEFRA minister, by Emma Barnett on Woman’s Hour on Thursday. We moved through plastic bags, plastic waste exports to Turkey, tree-planting v HS2, road building, coal mines, trade deals with Australia and where to go on holiday. It was robust, tough but pretty fair, and went to…
Richard Benyon returns to DEFRA
Richard Benyon, the toffish ex-MP returns to DEFRA as a Lords Minister. DEFRA now has two lords a-leaping and with Zac G being unpaid, it rather looks like a strange BOGOF deal. As a minister in the upper house Lord Benyon will have to answer difficult questions from the likes of Baroness Bennett and others…
And the votes are in…some of them
I now live in the North Northants unitary authority – don’t you love our logo of a massive pair of binoculars on a hill and a Red Kite too? I do! I used to live in the district council area of East Northants within the county council area of Northamptonshire but the district councils have…