European hare by Andy Rouse 2020VISION
#DefendNature: we need each other
No Nature. No Future.
Nature needs defending - you can help.
Since 2022 we have been working to influence the Retained EU Law (REUL) Bill, which threatened to give Ministers sweeping powers to remove or replace thousands of environmental laws, without public consultation or scrutiny by Parliament. We fear if these protections are lost, it would lead to even more pollution poisoning our rivers, more of our wild places at risk of being damaged – and potentially destroyed – and even more wildlife threatened with extinction.
Read our reaction
Craig Bennett, Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts, says:
“We won’t be congratulating UK Government for its decision to stop doing something it should never have even thought about in the first place. The UK Government’s Retained EU Law bill has been a shambles from the very beginning. Now it has ditched the ‘sunset clause’, which threatened to dismantle most Retained EU Law at the end of this year and posed an immediate threat to vital laws that protect nature and people. However, the huge problem posed by the bill still remains because it will allow future governments to revoke important laws at whim, whenever they want to.
Ministers should never be given carte blanche to pick and choose which laws should be kept or binned without public consultation or scrutiny – that is fundamentally undemocratic. The uncertainty created by UK Government over Retained EU Law has caused huge problems for business, as well as organisations working to protect nature. Ministers must stop seeing environmental law as a burden because it helps stop more sewage entering our rivers and ensures food is safe to eat. Given the urgent need to address the nature and climate crisis, they should be strengthening protections, not ripping them apart.”
We hold onto the fact that Ministers are now on the record at every turn with promises not to weaken environmental protections, and will challenge them to keep to these promises.OBE Director of Policy & Public Affairs, The Wildlife Trusts
Environmental protections remain at risk, and nature is facing threats at every turn! We all need to act together NOW to #DefendNature. Contact your MP below.
Send your MP a postcard
Ask your MP to #DefendNature by sending a postcard that will land on the doormat of their office.
Why were The Wildlife Trusts and other environmental charities so concerned?
In 2022 the UK Government launched a full-scale attack on nature – threatening to tear up some of the most fundamental laws we had, and announcing new proposals that would have a hugely detrimental effect on the UK's wild landscapes.
New proposals to change planning laws and create ‘investment zones’ announced in September 2022 represented a ‘free-for-all’ on nature, weakening the laws previously in place to protect it from bulldozers and concrete. The Retained EU Law Bill would also see the end of basic protections, leading to the loss of designated wildlife sites and a relaxation on pollution laws, resulting in more sewage in our rivers and streams. What’s more, the Westminster Government launched a review of the new system developed to reward farmers that help to restore the environment.
These threats and others are still live - we will never stop campaigning for the natural world.
Campaign update: 27th June 2023
Despite the best efforts of the Lords and some robust debate, the Westminster Government rejected the two amendments on the interlinked issues of strengthening parliamentary scrutiny and preventing the regression of environmental protection.
This was the fourth round of ping-pong – the transit of the Bill between the House of Commons and the House of Lords – and the debate had become somewhat political, with concerns that the Government was not following the usual process of making concessions. But neither Lord Anderson nor Lord Krebs pushed their amendment to a vote. The Bill will therefore now receive royal assent without those additional environmental safeguards.
However, the Lords were given some extra verbal assurances. These include:
- the Environment Act setting the context for the REUL powers
- recognition that the process should have due regard to the Environmental principles policy statement
- a commitment to public consultation on all REUL.
We have worked with the Greener UK coalition to galvanise public pressure to influence the outcomes for the REUL Bill and can count the deletion of the sunset clause as a significant win.
Despite this, our concerns remain that the refusal to offer proper parliamentary scrutiny will make it easier for future governments to weaken environmental protection, water quality standards and other EU-derived protections. But we hold onto the fact that Ministers are now on the record at every turn with promises not to weaken environmental protections, and will challenge them to keep to these promises.
Campaign update: 25th May 2023
A crucial vote took place on Wednesday 24th May that could have serious ramifications for nature. Thousands of Wildlife Trust supporters acted fast to convince MPs to vote for amendments to the Bill in order to ensure Parliament isn't left out of key decisions in future and that the laws that protect nature are not weakened.
Disappointingly, despite almost 10,000 of you contacting MPs, the UK Government and Conservative MPs voted down this amendment. The Bill will now be voted on in the House of Lords on 6th June, where we hope an amendment will be reinserted to ensure our environmental protections are not watered down.
Campaign update: 15th May 2023
The UK Government had been forging forward with a ‘sunset clause’ on the Retained EU Law Bill that would bulldoze hundreds of important laws that protect nature and people at the end of the year (2023).
On 15th May 2023, UK Government announced that it had scrapped the ‘sunset clause’, which means many vital environmental laws will remain in place in 2024. Your passionate postcards, emails and tweets to MPs raised the alarm. Thank you for your support. However, the fight is not yet over.
If you are interested in taking further action for wildlife by lobbying your MP and/or local councillors, please join our Wildlife Ambassadors. We will contact you with suggested actions, including advice about what you can include in your communications.