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Manifesto pledges – Conservatives

It will be interesting to see what commitments emerge in the Conservative manifesto given the difficulties that the current Government has had with some of the 2015 pledges.

1. First Generation to leave our environment better than we found it’ It will be interesting to see whether their ‘first generation’ view of the environment will survive in the new manifesto. ‘And as Environment Secretary, I want to be very clear – it is my ambition and it’s my department’s vision to be the first generation to leave our environment better than we found it since the industrial revolution.’ Andrea Leadsom
2. What will happen to the Natural Capital Committee? The NAC was a particular favourite of George Osborne (now departing) but it has been very quiet since the Brexit vote.
3. Will the 25 year plans survive? This would be a good time to ditch these 2015 manifesto promises from the Cameron years. The difficulty of having plans for environment or agriculture which say anything useful whilst set in the context of the lack of details caused by the Brexit negotiation makes this a difficult task.
4. Air Quality *The row over air quality hasn’t gone away and Government lost their legal bid to delay in publishing their plan until after the election. So lethargic have Government been on this plan that no less than four Parliamentary Committees were combining forces to hold Government to account on this before the election was called.

Manifesto & Green ideas

5. BusinessGreen was the among the first to produce commentary on the green agenda and the election – click here to read more
6. *CIWEM Have outlined seven key points for the green agenda in their commentary on the election highlighting the need for action on issues like climate change and resilience, and water resource management and for Government not to be diverted by Brexit from important issues.

Post the Election

7. Purdah Government departments and agencies will, in the words of the MMO, go rather ‘quiet’ until after the election
8. Effects on Parliamentary committees The committees of Parliament and the devolved administrations have been some of the most effective vehicles for hold the Government to account. The committees have rushed out a number of reports prior to the election with critical reviews on *SuDS, and the *Government’s lack of action on the Sustainable Development goals

The ongoing committee business is now on hold and will depend on new committees being set up after the election.

9. Post-election Ministerial Posts It will be interesting to see if existing Ministers survive the post-election reshuffle and there has already been speculation about Andrea Leadsom.