How farming can help address the climate crisis

I never expected to have a Conservative MP come and visit me to hear my views on agricultural policy, but that’s exactly what has recently happened. A few months ago I wrote to Sarah Newton, MP for Truro and Falmouth, inviting her to attend a lunch/seminar arranged by the Landworkers Alliance at Westminster. She replied to say that she would attend the seminar, but would also like to hear my views and could she come and visit Karen, my partner, and I at Trevengleth?

Well, this was too good an opportunity to miss. I’m not an expert on agricultural policy, but I know a few people who are. So the meeting was arranged, Sarah Newton was informed that “a few friends and neighbours would like to come and meet her” and on a Friday we spent nearly two hours discussing what the UK should do if we have the opportunity to rewrite agricultural policy after Brexit.

I suppose the meeting could be described as an ambush. The ‘few friends and neighbours’ were mostly organic farmers and environmental campaigners with pretty clear ideas about how farming needs to change if we are going to deal with climate change. We met before Sarah arrived and decided to focus on just three issues. Firstly, the farm subsidy system is ridiculously complex and needs to be simplified. Secondly, subsidies should reward carbon sequestration and improving water quality and flood mitigation. Thirdly, planning obstacles to people who genuinely want to work on the land must be removed.

There was a great deal of expertise on these issues in the room. Chris Jones from Woodland Valley Farm has converted to a system of regenerative farming that has already sequestered 3,500 tonnes of carbon back into their soil and his reintroduced beavers and their dams have substantially reduced flooding in the village downstream.

Oliver Baines also attended. Along with Chris Jones, Oliver, from Bodinnick Farm, is part of an agri-tech funded study by Duchy College and Plymouth University to develop methods of measuring soil health and carbon sequestration. Other ‘friends and neighbours’ included local organic beef, dairy and vegetable farmers as well as the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

We explained to Sarah exactly why our proposals were so important for making farming sustainable and combating climate change and she nodded, wrote copious notes and said “absolutely” about a hundred times. Tea and cake were shared and the MP departed.

So what happened next? To be fair, we expected very little. Our ideas were certain to be lost among Brexit and the impending election. Not quite. Just three days later Sarah spoke in the parliamentary debate on the Environment Bill and raised precisely the points we had made. Then, a few hours later, she announced that she wouldn’t be standing in the forthcoming election. Was it something I put in the tea?

Written by Chris Bird. First published in Country Smallholding magazine

Campaigning Until the End

The poster promoting this year’s Parliament Week says “It all begins with you”. Our democracy does begin and indeed depends on engaged and well-informed citizens. To help citizens make informed choices, easy access to accurate and impartial information about the work of their elected representatives in Parliament, including their voting record is needed.

Arguably we live in an age when it is easier to access information than ever before. But the owners or editors of social media platforms from which many people gather information and shape their opinions don’t have any responsibility or incentive to provide accurate and impartial information about MPs work and voting records. There are no real deterrents to misrepresentation. Citizens often base their opinions about MPs on how they vote on particular issues. Not all votes are equal and some of our most important decisions are taken without a division. But most people don’t know this. I have received many communications from constituents, misrepresenting the facts, derived from the far from perfect reporting of MPs voting records on websites such as They Work For You.

This I believe is contributing to the poisoning our politics, corroding people’s trust in MPs and threatening the very foundations of our Parliamentary democracy.

Right now there is no trusted source of impartial, accurate information about MPs voting records and actions in Parliament to help you make informed choices. I am delighted that both the Leader and Shadow Leader of the House, accepted my challenge and agreed to work with Hansard to develop a new service, in addition to their excellent verbatim reporting of Parliamentary proceedings, to provide impartial, contextualised information on MPs voting records.

In the next Parliament this will need careful consideration and cross-party support and will do a great deal to shore up the foundations of our Parliamentary democracy and overtime restore trust in our politics.

This was my last week in Parliament and it was difficult to leave. While it has been a challenging time, being the local MP for my hometown was a job I loved and was the greatest privilege.

Thank you to both those people who sent me to Westminster to be your representative and those that didn’t but did work constructively with me here. Together over the last nine years or so we have made a positive difference. Here are just a few of our achievements: modernising the Coastguard Service, with Falmouth open 24/7; more naval vessels in Falmouth for years to come; the creation of Falmouth University and the development of Exeter; more funding for our NHS; more young people receiving a better education and apprenticeship opportunities; more people employed, keeping more of the money they have earned; new buses and trains with more frequent services; new cycle routes; inspiring new businesses and investment into Cornwall’s clean growth economic strategy.

Most importantly, new legislation, including on plastic reduction and a new net zero carbon target, will enable us to leave the environment in better condition for the next generation.

First published in the West Briton 06/11/19

Welcoming the Environment Bill

This week I was to delighted to speak in the landmark Environment Bill debate. The case for tackling biodiversity loss, climate change and the environmental risks to public health is clear. The accelerating impact of climate change in this country and around the world is of profound public concern, as is the damage to nature with species loss, habitat erosion and the disappearance of cherished wildlife.

The Government has already taken action to address climate change by setting a target to reach net zero emissions, leading the way amongst major economies as the first to do so.  This Environment Bill is part of the government response to the clear and scientific case, and growing public demand, for a step-change in environmental protection and recovery.

I welcome the new tools the Environment Bill provides to help manage the impact of human activity on the environment, creating a more sustainable and resilient economy, enabling nature recovery and enhancing well-being and quality of life.

The new statutory cycle of target setting, monitoring, planning and reporting will help deliver significant, long term environmental improvement and ensure government can be held to account for its actions.  CAP payments to farmers need to be replaced with more straightforward financial payments to landowners, incentivising carbon sequestration and improving water management. Focussing on these two areas will lead to healthier soils, better quality food and nature recovery.  I have seen from my visits to many farms in Cornwall that nature recovery goes hand in glove with producing more high-quality food.  Stewardship of the land undertaken by farmers can be as important as that undertaken by our much-valued Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

While Parliament has been taking world leading action on the climate and nature recovery, too few people know where to go to find out what is actually going on and what they can do to help.  This needs to change as, all too often, I see misrepresentation of the facts or even lies being spread. People are missing out on vital information that would enable them to make a positive difference.  It’s not just our air, our water and soil that’s being poisoned – it’s our politics too. The Government needs to invest in easily accessible, independent and expert information on what action is being taken across all sectors of our society to deliver our net zero and nature recovery targets – a detailed road map for each year.  Information is power and I want to enable everyone and every workplace to make informed choices and take action as well as have clear visibility about what the Government and all parts of our society is doing.

After the General Election, we need a unifying national endeavour to bring us all together, and I believe this is it.  But today, this lack of easily accessible, accurate and impartial information is poisoning debate and risks destroying the radical political consensus that currently exists that we must leave our environment in better condition than we found it.

First published in the West Briton 30/10/19

Tackling Climate Change

The case for tackling biodiversity loss, climate change and environmental risks to public health is clear. The accelerating impact of climate change in this country and around the world is of profound public concern, as is the damage to nature with species loss, habitat erosion and the disappearance of cherished wildlife. The Government has already taken action to address climate change by setting a target to reach net zero emissions, leading the way amongst major economy as the first to do so. 

This week the Government brought the Environment Bill to Parliament. This is part of the government response to the clear and scientific case, and growing public demand, for a step-change in environmental protection and recovery. 

The Environment Bill provides new tools to help manage the impact of human activity on the environment, creating a more sustainable and resilient economy, and enhancing well-being and quality of life. It will engage and empower citizens, local government and businesses to deliver environmental outcomes and create a positive legacy for future generations. 

It will transform our environmental governance by creating a new system which is built on international best practice and tailored specifically to a UK context. It embeds environmental principles in future policy making and takes the essential steps needed to strengthen environmental oversight and improve on the way things have been done in the past. The new system will be clear and accessible, providing certainty to businesses and citizens. Environmental principles will work together to protect the environment from damage by making environmental considerations central to the policy development process across government, local and national. The Bill legally obliges policy-makers to have due regard to the environmental principles policy statement when choosing policy options, for example by considering the policies which cause the least environmental harm. 

A new statutory cycle of target setting, monitoring, planning and reporting will help deliver significant, long term environmental improvement and ensure government can be held to account for its actions. Statutory Environmental Improvement Plans (EIPs; the first being the 25 Year Environment Plan) and a new framework for setting long term legally binding targets will be integral to this cycle. The government will set new legally binding targets in four priority areas of the natural environment: air quality; waste and resource efficiency; water and nature. The EIPs and legally binding targets will be reviewed on a five-yearly basis and together they will drive action to significantly improve the natural environment and provide much-needed certainty for businesses and stakeholders. 

In order to strengthen environmental accountability, the Environment Bill will establish a new public body – the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) – as our own independent, domestic watchdog. Through its scrutiny and advice functions, the OEP will monitor progress in improving the natural environment in accordance with the government’s domestic environmental improvement plans and targets. It will be able to provide government with written advice on any proposed changes to environmental law. 

I am pressing the Government to invest in easily accessible digital, independent and expert information on what action is being taking across all sectors to deliver our net zero and nature recovery targets, including a detailed road map for each year. Information is power and I want to enable everyone and every workplace to take action and to hold the Government to account. The U.K. is taking world leading action to ensure we leave our environment in better condition than we found it. Too few people know where to go to find out what is actually going on, what they can do to help and what support is available to help with transition. This needs to change as, all too often, I see misrepresentation of the facts or even lies being spread. People are missing out on vital information that would make a positive difference. 

Post Brexit, we need a unifying national endeavour to bring is all together, and I believe this is it. 

First published in the Falmouth Packet 30/10/19

Update on Brexit

As you might imagine, as we approach the 31st October deadline to resolve Brexit, much of my time in Parliament over the last week has been dominated by this challenge. 

This week the EU Withdrawal Bill was published and set out how we will leave the EU.  This Bill turns the years of negotiated agreements between the UK and EU into legislation.  We also considered the Future Political Declaration that sets out the negotiating parameters for our future relationship with the EU.  Over the past three years, Parliamentarians and Parliamentary Committees have considered these negotiations. 

The Bill and the agreement that it seeks to implement represent a compromise, one that I believe delivers the commitments I made at the last General Election.  I want to ensure that, as we leave the EU, we have a close and special relationship with our neighbours and allies. While we are leaving the EU we are not leaving Europe. 

We need to take account of the shift we are seeing in attitudes among other Governments in the European Union. Those Governments are no longer hanging on, hoping somehow that the United Kingdom is going to change its mind.  They are impatient.  They are increasingly exasperated with all political parties and at the inability of the UK political system to take a decision on this matter. 

I believe EU Governments want Brexit brought to an orderly conclusion as soon as possible in a way that does as little harm as possible to the interests of the EU member nations.  That interest includes the future constructive and close relationship that they, like most people here, want to see. 

There are strategic challenges that face our country and every other European democracy.  Climate change, terrorism, serious and organised crime and the mass movement of people.  As European democracies, we are having to confront those challenges in the context of a shifting balance of world power, with a Russia that is aggressive and actively seeking to divide democratic European states, a China that is assertive and offering economic opportunity but championing a model for government and society at odds with that embedded in our own democratic and liberal values, and a United States whose unquestioning support for European security and a rules-based international order can no longer be taken for granted.  

While we need to get on with the task of trying to build a different but close and enduring partnership with our European neighbours and allies, we also need to work together to meet the challenges that confront us all as fellow democracies on a shared continent.  

Passing the necessary legislation will enable us to take one step closer towards starting on that task. I am pleased that the legislation cleared the first hurdle but frustrated that it is now stalled. 

It is not clear what will happen next, but there will be further delay to our departure from the EU. I will continue to work with MPs of all parties for a resolution. 

First published in the West Briton 23/10/19

Welcoming landmark Environment Bill

The UK leads the world on tackling climate change. We have decarbonised faster than any major economy, reducing our emissions by 38% since 1990. Yet we know we need to go further and faster, which is why Parliament supported the world-leading net zero target.

Now the Government must outline a strategy, concrete policies and a road map on how we are going to get there. Climate change and decline of our nature is the most serious threat we face. Unchecked, it will lead to more extreme weather events such as floods and droughts, damage precious natural habitats, and cause sea levels to rise. The response must therefore be similarly comprehensive, and action must be taken across our whole economy.

I am confident that we can do this. Why? Because there is comprehensive concern and support for action. We are an imaginative, creative, innovative nation and have what it takes to rise to this challenge. It’s an opportunity to grow our economy more sustainably. What’s good for nature is good for human health and wellbeing.

Every week I have meetings with people from a wide range of organisations – all fully invested in seeing us succeed in meeting our net zero target. In every meeting, there is agreement on what the challenge is and why we need to take action and the conversation moves onto the how and when they can play their part.

If we are to harness this enthusiasm and expertise, we will first and foremost need to provide more information about the Government’s plans. Not everyone will read the 277-page Committee on Climate Change (CCC) net zero report, or even the 630-page Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on the impacts of 1.5 degrees of global warming, or the daily announcements on action to reach net zero coming from different government departments.

It’s hard for businesses, public sector organisations or individuals to find impartial, accurate information about how they can make an impact by making changes. In going for net zero, we need to bring people with us, and that means empowering them to make different choices. The Government can provide that information by sharing its data and expertise on, for example, the smartest way to get to work or school, what local British food is in season and sustainably grown, and the suppliers of the cleanest forms of electricity and heating.

This should be provided in one place, where any individual, councillor, business or student can find out all they need to know to reduce their carbon footprint. Information for business and public sector organisations about how to access support to innovate too.

We have world leading universities and tech companies and I would like the Government to set up an Eco Tech Innovation Fund so we can harness this expertise to create user friendly and accessible apps and websites that seamlessly compile impartial and accurate data and explain what people can do and how they can access support.

Businesses also have an important role to play. It has been great to see businesses come forward with their own net zero targets, such as the water industry which has committed to carbon neutrality by 2030. To give hope to the citizens who are so worried about climate change this information should also be captured so people can see what all sectors of our society are doing. To level up the expectation on all businesses to take action, the Government should require goods for sale to include climate impact on their labelling. The requirement could cover items of food, electronic goods, and so on. It would help consumers make smarter choices when shopping and get companies measuring the carbon footprint of individual products. This will add a cost to business and that is why we must create a level playing field by insisting it is provided. We don’t want to see businesses doing the right thing undercut by those that don’t.

Information is power and will enable every workplace and home to make smarter choices. All this activity needs central coordination and I would like the government to introduce a new ‘net zero test’ for every Budget and Spending Review, to ensure all new government spending and investment is aligned with the target or at least isn’t harming decarbonisation efforts. The Government could ask the independent Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) to scrutinise whether the test was being met.

All the businesses I speak with want some clarity and certainty about what the government wants them to do, so they can start pricing in the changes they will need to make. Many see this as an opportunity not only to do the right thing but to innovate and reach new markets. Government departments and their arm’s length bodies should lead by example by making their buildings more energy efficient and switching to low emission transport. This will save money as well as carbon.

The climate change movement fails when it fails to bring people with it. As we saw in France, we have to make it clear why action to tackle climate change matters and ensure people aren’t left behind as we transition to new cleaner industries. It can’t just be about distant international summits with acronyms that few people understand. When the UK hosts the international UN climate summit in Glasgow next year, it must ensure that every sector of society, everyone is involved in the conversation. With an issue as big as climate change, we need everyone’s collective brainpower to find the right solutions and we must have everyone on board if we hope to implement them.

Post Brexit we need a unifying national purpose and I believe this is it. By enabling comprehensive action across the whole of society, with everyone involved, we can now start rebuilding a truly United Kingdom. One we can all be proud of.

First published in the Falmouth Wave November 2019 edition

Welcoming the new Environment Bill

The case for tackling biodiversity loss, climate change and environmental risks to public health is clear. The accelerating impact of climate change in this country and around the world is of profound public concern, as is the damage to nature with species loss, habitat erosion and the disappearance of cherished wildlife.

The Government has already taken action to address climate change by setting a target to reach net zero emissions, leading the way amongst major economies as the first to do so. This week the Government brought forward the Environment Bill. This is part of the government response to the clear and scientific case, and growing public demand, for a step-change in environmental protection and recovery.

The Environment Bill helps to manage the impact of human activity on the environment, creating a more sustainable and resilient economy, and enhancing well-being and quality of life.  It will engage and empower citizens, local government and businesses to deliver environmental outcomes and create a positive legacy for future generations. The Environment Bill has been prepared through consultations with the public on numerous measures in the Bill, including: environmental governance; the clean air strategy; biodiversity net gain; trees; conservation covenants; extended producer responsibility for packaging; recycling; deposit return schemes and water.

These joined up measures will help us manage the environmental challenges we are facing together. It will transform our environmental governance by creating a new system which is built on international best practice and tailored specifically to a UK context.  The new system will be clear and accessible, providing certainty to businesses and citizens.  The Bill legally obliges policy-makers to have due regard to the environmental principles policy statement when choosing policy options, for example, by considering the policies which cause the least environmental harm. A new statutory cycle of target setting, monitoring, planning and reporting will help deliver significant, long term environmental improvement and ensure government can be held to account for its actions.

Statutory Environmental Improvement Plans (EIPs; the first being the 25 Year Environment Plan) and a new framework for setting long term legally binding targets will be integral to this cycle. We will set new legally binding targets in four priority areas of the natural environment: air quality; waste and resource efficiency; water and nature. The EIPs and legally binding targets will be reviewed on a five-yearly basis and together they will drive action to improve significantly the natural environment and provide much-needed certainty for businesses and stakeholders. In order to strengthen environmental accountability, the Environment Bill will establish a new public body – the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) – as our own independent, domestic watchdog. Through its scrutiny and advice functions, the OEP will monitor progress in improving the natural environment in accordance with the government’s domestic environmental improvement plans and targets. It will be able to provide government with written advice on any proposed changes to environmental law.

First published in the West Briton 16/10/19