Starmer’s attack on nature; worse than the Tories
JVL Introduction
For Starmer, the opinions and perspectives of CEOs are paramount. Growth and development at all costs – including people’s health and well-being and our eco systems. Under the new legislation proposed, developers will, for example, be able to destroy ancient woodlands and just pay a “nature restoration levy” even though there will be no requirement to do a survey beforehand to know what is being damaged or destroyed. Once the levy is paid, according to the bill, “they can “disregard” the impact of destroying a protected feature. The details are remarkably, horrifyingly vague: the secretary of state merely needs to believe that the levy is “likely”, one day, to create new habitat to deem the damage “outweighed”.” Cleary advice and evidence by experienced and informed professionals has been completely ignored.
This excoriating and furious piece highlights yet another failure of this so called Labour government. Rather than protect the environment, biodiversity, green spaces, woodlands and more, this government prefers to clamp down on those protesting environmental destruction.
LL
This article was originally published by The Guardian on Thu 24 Apr 2025. Read the original here.
Labour’s great nature sellout is the worst attack on England’s ecosystems I’ve seen in my lifetime
The horrifying planning bill, which rips up environmental protections, was drafted with CEOs in mind. We know because Keir Starmer told us
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“If you want change, you have to vote for it”
I almost fell off my chair when I saw Labour use that slogan at the last general election.
Orwellian
Unbelievably horrific. Starmer seems to have a death wish for the UK, its democracy, its environment and its citizens. I mourn what we are losing – not for myself, because all my life I’ve been the beneficiary of policies that created the welfare state and protected my right to good health and free education – but for my young grandchildren, and all the children to come.
We knew what Starmer was like .. but even now the utter lack of principle has the power to shock. Bitterly ironic to read today in the ‘new/old’ Observer that the alternative candidate that many of us in Holborn & St Pancras wanted to be our MP instead — Raj Chada, a human rights lawyer worthy of the name — is now THE leading defender of environmental protestors and their rights. How different things would have been if he had won that contest for our seat.