Our bureaucratic overlords have been spending the taxpayers’ dime on mixed messages, as it appears the Welsh government aren’t the only ones who’ve been funding dodgy adverts. According to the The Telegraph, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have been paying social media influencers to post videos about why we should use wood burners this winter, advertising this trendy way of heating homes is great thanks to their lovely “cosy vibe“. These aren’t the only Defra-funded campaigns on smokey stoves…
At the same time, Defra has also been funding the London Wood Burning Project, a group of 18 London boroughs sharing information on the “human health impacts” of wood burners. The campaign warns against wood burners leading to cancer and lung disease, with ads labelling them “burny“, with taglines like “careless not cosy.” Perhaps our pen pushers’ new year’s resolution should be to spend our money on just the one line of argument…
Hunt’s telling us to “prepare for the worst” when it comes to any hope for tax cuts in the Autumn Statement because there isn’t enough “room to move“, though the memo doesn’t seem to have got all around government. Guido can reveal the UK Scottish Office has included £42 million of taxpayer funding for a “Potato Innovation Hub” in their budget submission. That amount of cash is no small fry…
The hub would be built in the Scottish central lowlands. Scottish Office Secretary Alister Jack is rooting for the project and pushing cabinet colleagues for support. Potato innovation is being pushed for by land use researchers at the James Hutton Institute who say “rapid” potato development is needed to tackle “climate and biodiversity crises“. Quids out and spuds in…
Good morning. Jolyon has lost again. Over the weekend the High Court threw out claims that the government’s Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan is unlawful, after a challenge was brought forward by the Marine Conservation Society, WildFish, and of course, the Good Law Project. The judge dismissed the claims on the grounds that “it is not for the court to assess the merits of the policies in the plan” – in other words, ‘stop using the courts for political means’. As usual…
Government sources point out Defra’s plan actually goes further than the existing law in terms of reducing sewage dumping… so making a legal claim would have been difficult. While Jolyon has described his latest failure as “hard to stomach“, the GLP say they’re “unlikely to appeal the decision“. Wouldn’t want to drop another stinker…
Thérèse Coffey has ordered the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs immediately cancels all meetings and correspondence with Greenpeace, after five of its members protested at the Sunaks’ constituency home yesterday morning. According to the Express‘ David Maddox, DEFRA Permanent Secretary Tamara Finklestein emailed staff today with instructions not to engage with Greenpeace until further notice:
“You will have seen the coverage of Greenpeace in the media today, 3 August, which involved a protest at the Prime Minister’s constituency home. Following this activity, the Secretary of State has taken the decision that the Defra Group should cease engagement with Greenpeace until further notice. This includes any planned meetings or communications.
If your teams have any engagement with Greenpeace planned, can you please contact […] as soon as possible to discuss. Please can you also alert the External Affairs team with any correspondence received from Greenpeace.”
The activists were arrested yesterday afternoon after spending a full two hours on the roof of the property. The protest has attracted criticism from across the floor, with the likes of Yvette Cooper and Chris Bryant condemning the stunt yesterday. Now Thérèse is finally cutting the loons out entirely. Resisting for once government having a dialogue with people who are behaving unreasonably…
Defra has confirmed the new law forcing companies to pay to recycle their own packaging – the extended producer responsibility fees – will be delayed a year until October 2025. In an announcement that appears to have been prematurely released on the gov.uk website, the Department confirmed they’re kicking the can down the road. An email confirming the move was sent out earlier today, only for another email to follow shortly after claiming the “page was removed from GOV.UK because it was published in error“. It is nonetheless still online at the time of going to pixel. Food bills could shoot up by another £60 if the costs were passed on to shoppers, so most people won’t be too upset…
DEFRA’s new law forcing companies to pay to recycle their own packaging – set to come into force in 2024 – is going down like a cup of cold sick with industry leaders. The “Extended Producer Responsibility”, which could see food bills shoot up by another £60 if the costs were passed on to shoppers, has already raised eyebrows since it was announced in 2021, and crisis talks this week haven’t exactly salvaged the policy.
More than 700 people across multiple sectors attended the online DEFRA-held Business Readiness Forum yesterday, only for the call to descend into chaos during a discussion with a department official, as dozens of participants trashed the plans and called for the entire thing to be binned. Guido’s got a hold of the chat transcript for the forum. Here’s an idea of how it went…
One source told Guido “the chat was like a runaway Sky News ticker“, adding they “couldn’t keep up” with the amount of criticism and abuse. Therese Coffey already had emergency talks on the policy back in November. It doesn’t look like they helped much…
