Welcome to the eight in a series of posts going through the full coalition agreement section by section. You can read the full coalition document here.
Despite the importance of rural constituencies to the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary ranks, DEFRA (Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs) is one of the few government departments with no Liberal Democrat ministers. That makes the wording of the coalition agreement on policy in this area particularly important.
In content it is very similar to the energy and climate change section; that is, a long list of Liberal Democrat policies, with some amenable Conservative ones added in. In this section there is no nuclear like twist at the end; instead the twist is hunting.
Therefore in this section we have plans to plant more trees (how many Focus leaflets equals one tree I wonder…), plans to curb the importation of illegally cut down timber, plans to protect wildlife corridors, plans to improve flood defences, plans to improve farm animal welfare and more.
There are even some nods in the direction of working constructively with Europe on the environment with a commitment to “work towards full compliance with European Air Quality standards”.
Farmers get some special attention,with a change to risk-based regulation, extra support for hill farmers and reviewing the ways in which outbreaks of disease are handled.
Improved local accountability for the management of national parks repeats a common theme through the rest of the document – moving power out from central government.
Badgers face “carefully managed and science-led” controls, whilst dangerous dogs face targeting by enforcement agencies. As for hunting, the section promises a free vote on repeal of the Hunting Act.
Given that there is only a minority of Conservative MPs, you may wonder why some anti-hunt campaigners in the Labour Party think the sensible response to a free vote is to shout betrayal at Liberal Democrat MPs. After all, only some of them have to vote against repeal for it to be defeated – which means smart campaigners would be wanting to persuade people to agree with them, not set off to first antagonise them with histrionic accusations of betrayal that skip over the point that a minority Conservative government would have introduced a free vote anyway. We’ll see whether saner voices prevail…
UPDATE: The taxation section also includes the promise to “increase the proportion of tax revenue accounted for by environmental taxes”.
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6 Comments
What worries me is that there are actually some Lib Dem MPs who will be willing to vote for a repeal of the Hunting Act if this list has any truth in it:
http://www.save-me.org.uk/how-mps-stand/
So we could end up with Lib Dem MPs helping to get the Act repealed.
I agree wholeheartedly that this isn’t the most pressing issue, but it is an emotive one, and one where a liberal instinct to not intervene has to be overruled by an understanding that a utlitarian view of governance must include the welfare of those unable to represent themselves: both animal and human.
Labourites aren’t the only ones disgusted at the hunt vote: to portray the issue as a party one as you do is surely to do just what you seem to be accusing them of! Personally I just find it mindboggling to imagine that given the state of the country the Tories chose to dig their heels in over this of all issues: it’s a shocking reminder of just how far removed their minds are from the realities facing most of their compatriots.
It´s where their votes are, Dave.
And so it is important to them.
Very disappointing that the Coalition Agreement has nothing to say on the subject of supporting our fishing communities, and the abject failure of the previous Government to introduce a fair percentage of the UK quota for our inshore sector. This is a policy area which has huge importance in terms of our heritage as an island nation. It is an issue that the new Government should get on to – sharpish.
Nick: don’t the references to the Marine and Coastal Access Act and to ensuring that food procured by the public sectors meets British standards of production have implications for fishing communities?
Mark – yes they do. But they don’t address the raging inequity of the distribution of quota for the small boats. The Labour Government sold these fishermen down the river. We need a more participatory approach to policy-making per se, and for fisheries policy in particular…