The National Trust, RSPCA, RSPB and the Woodland Trust have put the government on notice over its climate policies. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has effectively been told: water down your net zero commitments and you’ll have our 20 million members to answer to.
The warning came in an open letter in which the PM was told: ‘We will not stand by whilst politicians use the environment as a political football. It is courage and leadership that we need now.’
Sunak can smile at the irony of the National Trust demanding the environment cease to be used as a ‘political football’
It looked like a slam dunk for the climate change lobby: millions of voters, enough and more to make or break any party at a general election, thought so strongly about the matter that they would march to the ballot-box in the event of any climate backsliding. The reality is slightly different, but the episode still shows a great deal about the way arguments like this are conducted these days.
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