Conservative Environment Newtork (CEN) Manifesto for their vision for a greener UK
The Conservative Environment Network (CEN) launches the Conservative Environment Network Manifesto in Parliament on 2 July 2019. The launch event will feature contributions from both Conservative leadership candidates, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, as they set out their vision for a greener UK.
Secretary of State Rt Hon Michael Gove MP will talk about his view of conservative environmentalism, followed by a panel of Conservative MPs who will discuss the new document.
Conservative Environment Newtork (CEN) Manifesto
The Manifesto recognises the scale of the environmental challenge, but argues that tackling climate change and broader environmental breakdown can provide a new unifying mission for the nation. It sets out a path to a new era of green infrastructure that will deliver economic regeneration alongside natural restoration right across the country. It also champions the successful environmental achievements of previous Conservative governments in the UK and in other parts of the world.
Conservative Environment Newtork A New Path To Unite:
Commenting on the Manifesto, CEN Director Sam Richards said, “the manifesto aims to present a set of ideas that, if adopted, offer the next Conservative Prime Minister an exciting opportunity to set the UK on a new path that could unite a divided country and secure the prosperity of future generations. We have a record to be proud of, as one of the leading countries in the world in tackling climate change. But we know there is more to do, and the manifesto aims to present a space to discuss these potential future pathways in greater detail.”
Conservative Environment Newtork Declaration:
Accompanying the Manifesto is ‘The Declaration’ – a set of five principles supported by the 41 MPs in the CEN MP Caucus, which the manifesto seeks to explore in greater detail. The 41 MPs, from all sides of the Conservative Party, have called on leadership candidates to show even greater ambition for the environment by considering the manifesto policies. The Declaration also sets out the Caucus’s belief in market economics and its ability to secure a prosperous future for the UK – in contrast to Corbyn’s plans for renationalisation.
CEN’s Chair Ben Goldsmith, writes in his foreword for the Manifesto: ‘Stewardship of the natural world, responsibility towards future generations, the search for resilience, these are core tenets of conservatism…it is more important than ever that conservatives rediscover and champion their inherent affinity for looking after the natural world. This manifesto lays out a series of over-arching ideas for doing just that.’
The Manifesto will also celebrate past Conservative victories for nature, from the Ivory Act to a new 2050 net zero emissions target and the UK’s longest ever coal-free period.
Major policy considerations for the next Conservative government include:
- Subsidy-free onshore wind and increased ambition on offshore wind – the cheapest source of power allowed to compete in CfD auctions, putting us on track to 75GW by 2050.
- Planning reform – a Royal Commission to deliver the sustainable homes we need.
- Investment in regional transport networks – to unleash productivity outside London.
- Road pricing – a data-smart replacement for fuel duty when we shift to electric vehicles.
- A world leading Environment Act – legally-binding targets and a new, locally-led nature recovery network to restore the British countryside.
- Sustainable land and fisheries management – replace CAP with a system that brings public and private money into a single market-based scheme for natural capital restoration, and CFP with new, properly enforced maximum sustainable yields.
- Fracking ban – prevent stranded assets in an unpopular, uneconomic and out-of-date industry.
- Commonwealth Alliance for Nature – using friendships to achieve unique partnerships.
NOTES TO EDITORS
The CEN MPs support the Declaration but do not necessarily endorse each of the policies included in the Manifesto, which is intended as a platform for debate.
CEN is an independent forum, MP caucus and membership organisation for conservatives who support conservation and decarbonisation. Find out more: https://www.cen.uk.com/our-work2
Manifesto background:
- Backing up The Declaration, the manifesto says that the breakdown of the natural world is not irreversible. Tackling its causes and effects will be challenging, but will offer a divided UK a path to national renewal.
- To reach net zero by 2050, businesses and individuals will have to find new ways of living and working, but that is what humans are best at – and where the best ideas come from.
- We cannot save nature by ourselves, but world-changing leadership on historic issues gives the UK unique influence on the global stage and it is our duty to use it.
- This unifying national project will bring economic regeneration and natural restoration to all parts of the UK, making us the Saudi Arabia of wind power and home to the world’s biggest and best nature recovery network – including 1.5 billion new trees by 2050.