London, November 27: Today, public pressures are rising on the politicians with regard to having some environmental agenda. Ahead of the UK General Election 2019 to be held on December 12, this news story unfolds what the Labour Party Manifesto assures on environment protection and climate action.
The environment manifesto of the Labour party begins with the statement – “Unlike the Tories we will not trade our environment in pursuit of reckless trade agreements. Labour will review and improve protected area designations, from National Parks to local nature reserves and urban green spaces. We will introduce a Climate and Environment Emergency Bill setting out in law robust, binding new standards for decarbonisation, nature recovery, environmental quality and habitats and species protection. We will maintain and continuously improve the existing EU standards of environmental regulation.”
Hitting out at Conservatives, the manifesto says that the polluted air contributes to over 40,000 premature deaths a year and poisons the environment. But the Conservatives’ air-quality measures are so inadequate they have been found to be illegal. Labour will introduce a new Clean Air Act, with a vehicle scrappage scheme and clean air zones, complying with World Health Organisation limits for fine particles and nitrous oxides.
Labour party further assures to provide an extra £5.6 billion in funding to improve the standard of flood defences and respond to the increased risk of flooding, prioritising areas at risk in North West England, Yorkshire and the East Midlands that have been neglected by Conservative investments. “Our Plan for Nature will set legally binding targets to drive the restoration of species and habitats. We will embark on an ambitious programme of tree planting, with both forestry and native woodland species. We will fully fund the Environment Agency and other frontline environment agencies, and improve upstream river management. We will create new National Parks alongside a revised system of other protected area designations, which will guard existing wildlife sites and join up important habitats, while also ensuring more people can enjoy living closer to nature,” says the Manifesto.
It further assures to establish a new environmental tribunal to ensure that administrative decisions are consistent with environmental and nature-recovery obligations. It says, “Land is a public good, but it is not a common asset. In 1979, 20% of land was owned by the public sector. Today, that has halved. Green Belts protect one tenth of our land and offer conservation of some of our natural environment. Introduced by Labour in 1947 to provide access to the countryside, they are threatened by developments. A Labour government will maintain agricultural and rural structural funds but repurpose them to support environmental land management and sustainable methods of food production. We will invest in more county farms to replace those lost, and will work with agricultural organisations to increase access into farming for new entrants.”
“A quarter of all food purchased is wasted every year, equivalent to over 20 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, costing over £20 billion. Yet Britain has an epidemic in food related ill health, obesity, malnutrition 24 IT’S TIME FOR REAL CHANGE and diabetes, as well as increased food insecurity, with a boom in food bank use and record levels of hunger. Labour will introduce A Right to Food. We will end ‘food bank Britain’. We will ensure everyone has access to healthy, nutritious, sustainably produced food. We will halve food bank usage within a year and remove the need for them altogether in three years. We will establish a National Food Commission and review the Allotments Act. We will make food security a reason to intervene in the economy and work with local councils to minimise food waste We will put farmers, fishers, food producers and workers at the heart of our plans for delivering healthy food locally. We will support local food networks, expand access to farm holdings and ensure rights of union representation for all food and agricultural workers,” says the Manifesto.
The manifesto further assures to re-establish an Agricultural Wages Board in England so every part of the UK is covered. “We will set maximum sustainable yields for all shared fish stocks, redistribute fish quotas along social and environmental criteria and, if people vote to leave the EU, require the majority of fish caught under a UK quota to be landed in UK ports. We aim to achieve net-zero-carbon food production in Britain by 2040. Waste and Recycling Waste, including plastic waste, pollutes our land and seas, killing wildlife and contaminating our food. We will make producers responsible for the waste they create and for the full cost of recycling or disposal, encouraging more sustainable design and manufacturing. In government in Wales, Labour has transformed the position of recycling, placing them in the top five globally for recycling rates. A UK Labour government will learn from Wales’ example, and will also back bottle-return schemes. We will invest in three new recyclable steel plants in areas with a proud history of steel manufacturing,” Labour Party Assures.