Sarah Newton MP has supported the launch of a new environmental manifesto that explores new policy ideas to address climate change and biodiversity loss. Sarah is a member of the Conservative Environment Network (CEN) MP's caucus, and has signed the manifesto's declaration. The Declaration acknowledges the 'gravity of the global environmental crisis and our duty to preserve and restore our planet for future generations'.
The launch was attended by opening speaker Michael Gove, as well as Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt who made important contributions and environmental commitments
Truro and Falmouth’s MP said, "Climate change is the most important issue of our time, my constituents have asked me to do more, and this is an important step. This document outlines new policy ideas that can help us to decarbonise while protecting our precious landscapes and wildlife.
“Conservatives have a long history of environmental stewardship, as outlined in the manifesto, but we know that we must do more to meet the new challenges we face today. Now we have set a world-leading net zero target, we must set the policies to meet that target, and to also address the serious declines we are seeing in many of our precious species. We should also be utilising the UK's international standing, as a world leader in decarbonisation, to support other countries towards clean growth."
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.”
Major policy ideas considered in the Manifesto 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.
Recent Research undertaken by CEN with Truro and Falmouth residents on support for different sources of electricity generation revealed high levels of support for renewable energy:
Solar - 86.5%
Offshore wind - 80.1%
Tidal - 78.9%
Onshore wind - 75.9%
Biomass - 58.3%
Nuclear - 37%
Coal - 24.8%
Fracking - 22.5%
NOTE TO EDITORS
The CEN MPs support the manifesto's 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 for Conservatives who believe in conservation and decarbonisation.
Read the manifesto in full via www.cen.uk.com/manifesto
The sample size was 20,011. Methodology: People aged 18+ and living in the UK were interviewed online from 29 March to 16 April 2019. It was carried out by Survation for CEN.
Following the polling, Survation used multilevel regression and post-stratification (MRP) analysis to produce estimates of opinion and attitudes for small defined geographic areas. It works by combining information from large national samples (for example tens of thousands of respondents) with ONS and census data. E.g. if you have a certain percentage of people over 65 in your constituency, it weights the over 65 views they gathered accordingly.
More details/polling results (including break down by voter intention but that's national) can be found: www.cen.uk.com/polling