The environment is one of the greatest challenges of our age. Climate change, polluted air, congested streets, pressure on our countryside, loss of species… the list goes on.
We cannot shirk the environmental challenge. But we can face it in ways that deliver positive outcomes – for people and society. And we have achieved a lot in the past three years.
We have cleaned up decades of pollution of our beaches and rivers. London now has the cleanest river of any major city.
Our Countryside and Rights of Way Bill will give everyone the right to enjoy mountains, moorland, fens and common land – for the first time since the enclosures of the 17th and 18th centuries.
On water, we have secured an extra £7.5 billion of investment over the next five years, at the same time as cutting bills by an average of 12 percent. Leakage is down by a quarter. And we have guaranteed that no one will lose their water supply through non-payment of their bills.
We are going to deliver a huge increase in recycling. We have set tough new statutory targets to double the amount of household waste we recycle over the next three years and triple it over the next five. And we want to give everyone the opportunity to do their bit to help make this happen.
We are tackling fuel poverty. We have set up a £1 billion programme to help pensioners keep warm. In the next two years 460,000 households, of whom 300,000 are pensioners, will have the heating and insulation in their home brought up to standard. We will also ensure that, by 2010, vulnerable people will not be suffering ill health because their homes are cold.
We will reinvigorate our transport system by investing £180 billion over the next decade to cut pollution and reduce congestion. It will mean a renaissance for public transport and, in turn, will give the travelling public a real travel choice.
We have said again and again that there will be no commercial cultivation of GM crops until 2003 – and only then if our trials prove they are safe for the environment. But we do need the proper scientific evidence on which to make a decision, so our trials must, and will, continue.
However, the biggest environmental challenge we face is global warming. That is why the UK is taking the lead in reducing CO2 emissions. We agreed at Kyoto to cut them by 12 percent by 2010. We have just published our UK strategy, setting out how we will achieve a 20 percent cut over the next decade.
Under the Tories, Britain became known as ‘the dirty man of Europe’. Now we are leading international efforts to protect our environment. We still, however, have plenty more to do. Our policies for the future include: greater protection against pollution; an environmental productivity strategy to help make the economy more clean and efficient; more support for renewable energy and other clean technologies; and action to improve the local quality of life – the issues that impact on people when they step out of their front doors.
The environment is important to voters, particularly the young. Our Government has a strong track record to build on. We are the party best able to look after the environment and to reconcile this with social justice and economic success.
Our policies to foster clean air and water, warm homes, liveable cities, rich wildlife and protected countryside will help us all to enjoy a better quality of life.