Updated: Rachel Reeves backs a third runway at Heathrow
Reacting to the chancellor's speech on growth this morning, which outlined plans to back aviation expansion and reduce nature protections, Rosie Downes, head of campaigns at Friends of the Earth, said:
"Rachel Reeves' 'growth trumps all' approach is the kind of dangerously short-sighted thinking that has helped cause the climate crisis and left the UK one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world.
"Giving the go-ahead to airport expansion by depending on new, unreliable technologies, like 'sustainable aviation fuels’ would be a reckless gamble with our future and risks the UK missing critical climate reduction targets even if we rapidly expand renewable energy.
"Similarly, allowing developers to bulldoze their way through crucial nature protections and safeguards will further diminish our seriously under-threat wildlife and natural environment.
"The net zero economy is the UK’s fastest growing sector, the government should seize the huge benefits that building a greener future will bring through cheap homegrown renewable energy and warm well-insulated homes, not back damaging projects like airports and the Lower Thames Crossing.
"Sacrificing nature and our climate isn’t leadership, it’s rash, short-sighted and a sure-fire way to lose the trust of those who believed Labour's election promises on the environment. Instead the Chancellor must embrace green growth."
On the announcement of the Nature Restoration Fund, senior nature campaigner, Sienna Somers, said:
“The government’s proposed Nature Restoration Fund is a dangerous concession to developers, letting them pay to sidestep their legal responsibilities instead of genuinely protecting nature.
"Weakening the Habitats Regulations - one of the last effective shields against destructive development - in exchange for vague, unenforceable promises would be a disaster for wildlife.
"We're already one of the most nature depleted countries globally, yet we'd be giving developers a license to destroy. Ministers must stop enabling the destruction of irreplaceable habitats and commit to real protections and serious investment - not corporate greenwashing.”
ENDS
*This press release was updated on 30.01.25 to include Friends of the Earth's statement on the chancellor's proposed changes to the Nature Restoration Fund.