Don't blame the bats, Labour – you're not just damaging nature but your own poll rating too
4 min read
It wasn't meant to be this way. Sixteen months on from winning a massive majority, off the back of a manifesto that promised "to restore and protect our natural world", a government beset on all sides is using up some of its remaining political capital to pick a fight with millions of nature lovers in Britain.
Through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, now approaching its final stages, the government appears intent on dismantling critical nature protections. Rachel Reeves has repeatedly blamed nature – including bats, newts and even spiders – for a struggling economy when the evidence shows this simply isn’t true. There’s a strong whiff of desperation in her scapegoating.
The government now has the chance to turn away from this self-declared war on nature-loving Brits. On Thursday (13 November) the Commons will debate the Bill and the pressure is on. The government suffered a humiliation in the Lords when 260 peers voted for amendment 130 which protects wildlife, clearly signalling that they don’t believe the Planning Bill’s measures will deliver a “win-win for nature and development”. The Lords also decided to protect chalk streams by voting for amendment 94.
Ministers can and should accept these vital amendments which would stop the nature crisis deepening yet further. However, if the government, instead, continues with its flawed approach to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and pursues a witch-hunt on wildlife, then this legislation becomes a microcosm of where Labour is getting it wrong.
Mistake number one: this Labour government thinks it knows Reform-curious voters, but it doesn’t. It seems to think that because Nigel Farage and Richard Tice want to abolish net zero, these voters are also up for saying goodbye to their local wild places.
The fact is, Reform and Reform-curious voters love nature just as much as other people. Poll after poll shows that green space is the number one source of local pride and has cross-political support. The combined membership of The Wildlife Trusts, at almost a million members, broadly reflects that of the UK-voting public. In an age of division, an appreciation of nature brings people together.
Mistake number two is ignoring evidence. The government has continued to push through a bill that experts warn risks damaging wildlife, for little effect on housing delivery. Research published by The Wildlife Trusts found that bats and great crested newts were a factor in just three per cent of planning appeal decisions. Removing nature protections will not “get the economy moving” but it will infuriate communities when they see bulldozers ploughing through their local nature spot.
In its quest to build 1.5m new homes in this Parliament, why isn’t Labour more focussed on the 1.4m homes that already have planning permission but are not being built? The reality is that developer decisions, rising construction material costs, and other factors are the real blockers to building.
The government is running very real political risks in leaving the growing ranks of nature lovers out in the cold
Mistake number three is to think environmentalism has the political weight it had in the 1990s, when it was a fringe concern in Westminster. The Green Party is now in second place in some polls, and across the economy, NHS, and defence sector, the vital importance of nature to our prosperity, health, and national security is increasingly recognised. Our understanding of the role the natural world plays in all our lives is changing rapidly and the public mood is changing with it.
Rachael Reeves’ efforts to sell a ‘blame nature’ narrative are flogging a fax machine in a digital age. If she and colleagues persist, the cost will not just be measured in lost wildlife, destroyed wild spaces, and diminished joy in all our lives. The government is running very real political risks in leaving the growing ranks of nature lovers out in the cold.
By accepting vital amendments to the Planning Bill, the government can mark the start of correcting the flawed thinking that has driven them to alienate natural supporters. Failure to change course from the current anti-nature rhetoric will see Labour’s electoral chances go from bad to worse.
