Government considering scrapping wildlife protection laws?

[vole-woman]

Just had this email through from a campaign group:

On Monday, it was revealed that the government might scrap vital laws which protect wildlife and the countryside and help stop climate change. Hardliners have branded the rules ‘red tape’ and say they could be scrapped within months. [1]

We need to work together to make sure our wildlife, our countryside and our planet are protected.

In the past, David Cameron has made headlines promising to run "the greenest government ever". [2] We need to convince him that scrapping these laws would be a disaster for his reputation. A huge petition will prove to Cameron that he can't afford to break his green promises.

Please take 30 seconds to speak up for legal protection for wildlife and the environment:
38 Degrees | Don't Scrap Environment Laws

Among the laws under threat are the Climate Change Act and the Wildlife and Countryside Act. These aren’t little-known laws that no one cares about. The Wildlife and Countryside Act protects wild birds, their nests and eggs, and makes sure that national parks and marine reserves are protected. The UK’s Climate Change Act was a world first which helps make sure we reduce our emissions. [3]

I'm concerned because the Wildlife and Countryside Act covers so many of our threatened species. I don't know whether the email's being alarmist, but I definitely thought it was worth passing on to as many people as possible. Even if it's only a vague consideration in the government's mind, we need to make our voices heard on this issue.

[htcdude]

I've put my name down.

Thanks for the heads up! I can't believe they would even consider doing this.

Nige

[artdemole]

Did likewise. Changing the way I vote Henceforth....

[Deb London]

Darrenm posted in a similar vein in the "within living memory" thread. Bit worrying. Will add my name.

[STYRBJORN]

Signed. I'll mention it in the forest sell-off thread I started.

[pressld2]

All governments need to be watched like hawks because none of them can be trusted, but this email does seem overly alarmist to me. Whatever one may think of Cameron and the coalition they will be perfectly well aware how many votes such actions would lose them.

Wearing my cynical hat, this looks to me like whipping up a campaign against things that the government "might" do, or "could" do just so that, when they don't do them, we can have headlines reading "Government forced into embarrasing climb-down in the face of massive public opposition." In other words it's just political point scoring. Remember - the opposition are no more trustworthy than the government.

But I'm watching 'em, and if it turns out I'm wrong then I'll be manning the barricades at my local reserves too!

Dave P.

[Gill Catton]

There is over-arching European legislation too though and they can't scrap that! I too don't believe they'd scrap the WCA.

[RKB]

Originally Posted by pressld2

All governments need to be watched like hawks because none of them can be trusted, but this email does seem overly alarmist to me. Whatever one may think of Cameron and the coalition they will be perfectly well aware how many votes such actions would lose them.

Wearing my cynical hat, this looks to me like whipping up a campaign against things that the government "might" do, or "could" do just so that, when they don't do them, we can have headlines reading "Government forced into embarrasing climb-down in the face of massive public opposition." In other words it's just political point scoring. Remember - the opposition are no more trustworthy than the government.

But I'm watching 'em, and if it turns out I'm wrong then I'll be manning the barricades at my local reserves too!

Dave P.

And note the timing - just before local elections.

All they are doing is asking people to suggest which bits of red tape interfere with their lives the most, to highlight laws that can be merged or scrapped to streamline things. The website covers all areas of life, not just wildlife, and I'd urge everyone to look at it before being duped by the political 38 Degrees campaign group into changing their voting intentions based on this alarmist stuff: Red Tape Challenge

As an example, if someone shoots a red kite at a nest on private land there are about 6 different laws that apply. That means 6 different things to process. Wouldn't it be better if we could distill scenarios like this down to 2 or 3 applicable laws that achieve the same thing?

It's actually about consulting the public on what laws they want, not about wanting to scrap wildlife protection.

[eeyore]

one ironic thing being that the WCA '81 and its later ammendment acts '85 were passed under the Thatcher government, so they are not some socialist triumph that the nasty conservatives want to scrap as some at 38 deg would like us to believe. Environment usually transcends party political lines because although "environment" has leftwing connotations, many traditional rightwing voters also live in the countryside and want it protected.

[dampflippers]

It would appear that under their ‘red tape challenge’ the government are looking at various legislation that they think may be ‘burdonsome’ to businesses and are asking for opinions on whether they should be scrapped / reviewed / consolidated / kept etc.

They have put a whole host of environmental legislation on their site for people to comment on, including key acts for biodiversity protection.

To view the website, please click here:

Red Tape Challenge



The organisation 38degrees have launched a petition against this and their website can be viewed here:

38 Degrees | Blog | Sign the petition: don’t scrap green laws