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Environment

Chapters

  1. Salaries and Taxation
  2. Pensions
  3. Benefits
  4. Health and Care
  5. Education
  6. Housing
  7. Employment
  8. Trades Unions and Labour Laws
  9. Trade and Industry
  10. Transport
  11. Energy
  12. Environment
  13. Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Rural Life
  14. Crime
  15. Legal System
  16. Immigration and Asylum
  17. Local Government
  18. Devolution and Regional Government
  19. Parliament and Democracy
  20. Media
  21. Freedom of Information and Privacy
  22. Northern Ireland
  23. European Union
  24. Foreign Policy
  25. Defence and Disarmament
  26. Conclusions
 Preamble

Chapters

  1. Salaries and Taxation
  2. Pensions
  3. Benefits
  4. Health and Care
  5. Education
  6. Housing
  7. Employment
  8. Trades Unions and Labour Laws
  9. Trade and Industry
  10. Transport
  11. Energy
  12. Environment
  13. Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Rural Life
  14. Crime
  15. Legal System
  16. Immigration and Asylum
  17. Local Government
  18. Devolution and Regional Government
  19. Parliament and Democracy
  20. Media
  21. Freedom of Information and Privacy
  22. Northern Ireland
  23. European Union
  24. Foreign Policy
  25. Defence and Disarmament
  26. Conclusions
The Tories' bias in favour of business and its light-touch regulation left local habitats at risk from development. Most waste was sent to landfill and Britain lagged behind others in recycling. Radioactive waste left the Irish Sea the most polluted in the world and leukaemia clusters around many nuclear installations. Environmentalists claimed that Britain harmed foreign environments too, e.g. see the Pergau dam or the timber trade. On the other hand, they took threats to the global environment (especially the greenhouse effect) seriously, and had better targets for CO2 reduction than most countries and fuel taxes to help achieve them.
Labour policy was:
1 More habitat protection, for hedgerows, the coastal zone, etc.  
2 To reduce waste disposal to landfill by 30% in 5 years and promote recycling  
3 To require larger firms to report on their environmental performance and strategy  
4 To help British industry seize global opportunities for clean and green products  
5 To reduce acid rain gas emissions, e.g. sulphur emissions by 90% in 10 years  
6 Radioactive waste?  
7 To make sustainability "the cornerstone of trade policy"  
8 To reduce CO2 emissions by 20% by 2010  
9 To use the tax system to reduce pollution  
10 To help green groups mount legal challenges to environment-damaging developments  
In fact under New Labour:
1 Loss of greenbelt land increased and companies were granted exemptions so routinely that the European Commission took Britain to court Policy shift to right of old Conservatives
2 Landfill tax rose steeply but its use remained high, as did use of incineration, but recycling rates also rose Pledge partially carried out
3 Companies were encouraged to undertake environmental audits but few did so We need more information on the outcome of this pledge. Can you help?
4 Support for green industries increased but still lagged behind other countries Pledge partially carried out
5 Acid rain emissions fell but mainly as coal use dropped (target?) Pledge carried out
6 Thorp and MOX added to radioactive pollution (though reductions were promised by 2020) and to plutonium stocks Left as under the Conservatives
7 Even after further scandals (Ilisu dam, Tanzanian air-traffic control) the government opposed a sustainability test being added to export controls Left as under the Conservatives
8 CO2 emissions actually rose in Labour's period in power Left as under the Conservatives
9 Environmental taxes were at their lowest level since 1993 Policy shift to right of old Conservatives
10 The government actually stopped Greenpeace taking an oil company to court Policy shift to right of old Conservatives
In addition:
Bullet point The government strongly supported GM technology, playing down evidence of harmful environmental effects  
Bullet point The Competition Commission no longer considers the environmental impact of mergers  
Bullet point All government departments were required to explain how they are helping sustainability  

 

 Bullet point 

Targets for future CO2 reductions were ambitious 

 

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