Ed Davey launches five good ideas – but there’s a flaw

In addition to the proposal to extend free school meals, today the Liberal Democrats launched a significant part of the environmental section of the pre-manifesto document:

Five green laws to protect the environment have been unveiled today as part of Liberal Democrat manifesto plans.

The new laws will include legal targets for clean air and water, an end to dirty coal power stations and an ambitious decarbonisation target for the electricity sector.

Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary & Climate Change Secretary said:

“The environment has always been a top priority for the Liberal Democrats and while we have achieved a huge amount on our green agenda in the Coalition, it’s hardly a secret that this has been one of the biggest areas of tension.

“Liberal Democrats see our duty to protect our environment for future generations as a central political and moral challenge. This is not something we can, or should, try and sidestep. In this Parliament, we’ve made a big step forward particularly on green energy, but other areas have not seen such progress. So we want to use the next Parliament to make a major leap forward on the environmental agenda across the board.

“Our five green laws will focus on a range of environmental issues that people really care about – air quality for health, access to green space and tree planting. And we want to make it as easy as possible to go green and by introducing higher new standards, industries from construction through to waste, heating and transport will have to help us all become more sustainable – as many leading, innovating firms are already doing. ”

These new environment plans show the Lib Dems are not only keen to build on their achievements in Government in areas including Britain’s rise in renewable energy, the Green Investment Bank and record investment in our railways, but also to underscore their distinct differences from the Conservatives on the wider green agenda in the natural environment and in using regulations and standards to meet green aims.

The plans include new rights to access green space, new marine and coastal reserves, the roll out of an electric vehicle charging point network, ambitious waste reduction plans and new regulations to boost energy efficiency and renewable heat to cut energy bills.

The five green laws are:

1. A Nature Bill: key measures include legal targets for biodiversity, clean air, clean water and access to green space, extending the Right to Roam and establishing new marine and coastal reserves.
2. A Heating and Energy Efficiency Bill: key measures include building on the Green Deal with a national programme to raise the energy efficiency standards for all Britain’s households.  We will legislate to boost renewable and district heating programmes and heat saving standards.
3. A Zero Waste Britain Bill: key measures include establishing a “Stern Report” on resource use, with binding targets and a clear action plan to reduce waste and end biodegradable landfill.
4. A Zero Carbon Britain Bill: key measures include introducing a decarbonisation target for electricity generation, expanding the powers of the Green Investment Bank and banning electricity generated from unabated coal.
5. A Green Transport Bill: key measures include establishing a full network of charging points for electric cars, only allowing low emission vehicles on the roads from 2040 and reforming planning law to ensure new developments are designed around walking, cycling and public transport.

Ed added: “Between now and next May, the Liberal Democrats will be putting forward these new green ideas and asking people for their views so we can finalise them for our General Election manifesto.

“While everyone knows the Tories have been an obstacle to our greener vision, people have forgotten that Labour simply failed to deliver on these important areas when they were in government.

“So the choice is clear: if you care about the environment and want to see a greener, cleaner Britain then only the Liberal Democrats can deliver this in Government for you.”​

The five measures are good ideas (and have been well received in The Guardian), but they come with a flaw.

Nick Clegg has talked about wanting to make education the centre of the party’s general election message. I have doubts about that (education doesn’t rate high up enough the list of priorities that voters have for it to make a really good single rallying point for the manifesto). But if that’s the approach the party is going to take, then all the policies possible need to be framed as part of that education message.

Yet the plans of Ed Davey (popular with green groups) didn’t include, for example, a big drive to help the environment and save money for schools by expanding their use of solar energy (as Friends of the Earth is currently campaigning for and as the Daily Mail is scared of). Instead of joining up his green plans with Clegg’s desired overall message we have a set of plans that are off message.

That’s not a good approach to take.

As ever, this policy announcement forms one part of the pre-manifesto document which will get debated at the Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow this October. Nick Clegg’s foreword to that document, along with some of its highlights, was published at the weekend.

Take a look at my archive of policy posts to see the other proposals recently launched that will also feature at Glasgow.