Hard Labour at the Party Conference

1 October 2003

The big losers at the Exposed Awards, Bournemouth

The award ceremony took place on Wednesday morning on the Bournemouth seafront. At the top of the podium of shame, was business lobby group, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), represented at the awards by Friends of the Earth's famous fat suit. The UK 's most powerful industry lobby group was short listed for being extremely backward in its approach to regulation, regularly lobbying against measures to protect the environment or to give people more rights .

A close second came weapons manufacturer BAE Systems, suitably dressed as the grim reaper. The company was nominated for being a master of `greenwash', having run a massive advertising campaign euphemistically describing itself as a `global systems company' which in reality is "the world's second largest arms producer

And finally, in third place was supermarket giant Tesco, also represented by a fat suit. The company was accused by Friends of the Earth of breaking previous promises, including the sourcing of tropical timber and its treatment of British farmers.

Corporate responsibility was also on the agenda at Friends of the Earth's Tuesday morning fringe meeting. On the panel were Stephen Timms, Minister of State for Energy, e-Commerce and Postal Services , Sir John Harman, Chairman of the Environment Agency, Lord Witty, Government spokesman for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Richard Baker, a Teesside resident and local campaigner and Tony Juniper, Executive Director for Friends of the Earth.

Richard Baker described his personal experience of living on the doorstep of big polluters and illustrated why tough regulation is needed to control big business. Timms, perhaps not surprisingly, argued that voluntary initiatives are better, whereas Harman supported Friends of the Earth's call for mandatory reporting and for better reporting standards. Some tough questions from the audience were put to the panel, including one from a business representative on how business and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) can better work together in this issue.

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