Archived press release

Labour's five year record

1 May 2002

GREEN SCORECARD: SHOULD HAVE DONE BETTER

Labour's record on the environment and green issues has so far been “mediocre”, according to a new analysis by Friends of the Earth, published on the day of Labour's fifth anniversary in office. Labour took office in 1997 promising to be "the first truly green Government ever" and to put "concern for the environment at the heart of policy making". But has the reality matched the hype? Here are the pros and cons:

THE GOVERNMENT'S GREEN RECORD

Climate change and energy

Pro:

Tony Blair and John Prescott led international efforts to agree the Kyoto treaty to fight climate change. Labour committed the UK to a 20% cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2010. Labour has set a target of a 10 per cent of our electricity to come from renewable sources by 2010. It has made limited new money available for this purpose, and approved new offshore wind projects.

Con:

Labour is not meeting the solar and other renewable targets needed to deliver the manifesto-promised “low carbon economy”. It also remains far too sympathetic to the nuclear industry - the uneconomic and dangerous MOX plant at Sellafield has begun reprocessing, and Labour's energy review left the option open to replace existing nuclear power stations as they reach the end of their life.

Pro:

Labour supported a Private Members Bill (drafted by FOE and ACE) to oblige the Government to set targets to eliminate fuel poverty. Labour introduced a Fuel poverty Strategy as required by the Act, which should provide real help for up to 3 million vulnerable households.

Con:

But Labour also changed its own definition of fuel poverty, to significantly cut the numbers and make it easier to meet its statutory duties.

Wildlife Protection

Pro:

In its first term, Labour brought in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (the only major piece of green legislation so far). The Act followed many years of campaigning by Friends of the Earth (FOE) and other green organisations and greatly improved protection for wildlife on Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and the management of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Labour has also taken specific steps to protect vital habitats, most recently by paying the American corporation Scotts to stop its destroying some of the country's few remaining peat bogs.

Con:

On the down side, Labour recently gave the go-ahead for a giant white horse to be carved into a SSSI near Folkestone.

Agriculture

Pro:

The new Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs has started to talk about changing the huge, cumbersome and environmentally destructive system of agricultural subsidy, to encourage conservation, organic farming and local food production.

Cons:

But Labour refuses to set targets to increase organic production; less than 2 per cent of the annual £billion subsidies is available for organic conversion. 70 per cent is spent intensifying farm production.

Prime Minister Tony Blair and the majority of the Cabinet remain enthusiasts for genetically modified food. GM and organic farming cannot readily co-exist in a small country like Britain. The Government faces imminent decisions - for example over statutory separation distances between GM and non-GM crops and permissible“contamination thresholds” for labelled non-GM products - which will show whether the Government prefers GM crops to organic and sustainable farming

Green Taxation

Pro:

Early in Labour's first term, Chancellor Gordon Brown took important steps to implement the basic principle of green taxation that tax should be raised on polluting and environmentally destructive behaviour, with the revenues used to pay for green initiatives and to cut taxes on employment. The Chancellor overcame resistance from the business lobby to introduce the Climate Levy, which has gives industry clear incentives to cut emissions.

Con:

But New Labour surrendered to the fuel tax protestors and abandoned the “fuel duty escalator” - the process of gradually raising fuel duty to ensure that the cost of motoring more accurately reflects the environmental damage it causes. In the last Budget, Brown put employers' National Insurance contributions back up again, increasing the cost of labour and discouraging job creation.

Waste

Con:

Britain's waste mountains remain an environmental scandal, and Labour backs incineration.

Pro:

Labour has increased the Landfill Tax, to discourage this worst of all options for waste disposal.

Con:

Labour promised a “low waste” economy but the policies and tax measures needed are not being put in place. The Government set only a low target for increasing recycling (30% by 2010) and failed to give local councils sufficient money to achieve even this.The result is that dozens of new waste incinerators are being planned across the country, while local communities organise to resist these developments, Friends of the Earth wants to see a big increase in the UK's recycling rate - from 12% today to 50% by 2010. To achieve this requires a properly funded doorstep recycling scheme in every local authority area.

Transport

Con:

The Government promised to reduce traffic in 1997, but the number of journeys by car is still rising. Our under-funded, privatised railways remain chaotic. The Government plans at least a hundred new roads, threatening the very countryside that the Countryside Act was supposed to protect. The Birmingham Northern Relief Road - the first toll road in Britain, which in Opposition Labour promised not to build - has also been built, through Green Belt land.

Planning

Con:

Lord Falconer is threatening to remove the right of communities to argue against the principle, need and siting of major new developments at planning inquiries, and substantially removing a range of rights from communities, individuals and elected authorities.

Corporate Responsibility

Con:

Government attempts to improve the social and environmental performance of big business have been restricted to "the voluntary approach", and have failed. In October 2000, Tony Blair told the CBI: “I would also like to see more reporting on environmental and social performance... I am issuing a challenge, today, to all of the top 350 companies to be publishing annual environment reports by the end of 2001". But over three-quarters of top UK companies ignored this call. FOE is now calling on the Government to deliver binding rules on corporate accountability - including mandatory social and environmental reporting.

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Commenting, Friends of the Earth Executive Director Charles Secrett said:

“Labour's fifth anniversary in office is a good time to assess its environmental record. Frankly,its performance has been distinctly patchy. There were important first term successes such as UK support for the Kyoto climate treaty and green tax reform. There have also been serious failures, notably the Government's utter failure to tackle Britain's transport crisis, sort out our railways, improve our buses and cut the number of journeys made by car.

“Overall, New Labour's excessive caution, pro-business instincts and obsession with presentation have often combined to damage its green reputation. Surrender to the fuel tax protestors, backing for the biotech industry and continuing threats to revive nuclear electricity generation are not the acts of a Party that really wants to “put the environment at the heart of Government. But green politics remains the politics of the future.Governments that fail to see the central importance of these issues are heading for eventual political disaster.”

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust