For both voters and nature, there is no case for neglecting environmental policy. Demographically, the Conservative Party needs younger voters and to not reprioritise the environment will automatically disenfranchise many. Older voters also appreciate there is more to the environment than just carbon emissions, having helplessly witnessed the decline of nature around them.
The solution is not merely one of anchoring to net zero and stressing it was devised on the Conservative Party’s watch. This will not draw voters when Labour continues to play out its own commitment to net zero. Under such developments, voters will not associate conception of idea with competence of its execution. Just as a vote for Labour doesn’t automatically mean a better-run NHS.
Labour’s approach to the environment is one of big state, centralised decision-making. The flagship policy of this is of course GB Energy. For now this is more slogan than substance, but the intention is clearly one of state-expansion at a time when energy security has thrust itself into the public’s concern.
However, behind all this grand project there are many voters who are frustrated with their lack of agency when it comes to environmental decision-making. This contention was articulated by Roger Scruton, who wrote: “top-down solutions have a tendency to confiscate problems from those whose problems they are.”
Any government must help to conserve and restore our natural world. Yet it is how this is achieved where the line in the sand can be drawn with Labour. The Conservative Party must avoid mimicking Labour’s strategy, whose outcomes appeal to many, but the means less so. The Conservatives can instead offer a path away from this strict utilitarianism, and towards a more considerate, community-driven approach.
There is an opportunity to re-imagine an environmental version of David Cameron’s Big Society. This vision was never fully realised but its appeal is simple: to shift power from central government towards local communities. Beyond energy, environment policy must tackle a wide array of problems. Food security, biodiversity, and water pollution are all such examples. All of which can inspire a range of solutions driven from local stakeholders.
The opportunity for the Conservatives is to inject agency and resources towards communities over how their natural environment is managed. This could include localised energy projects of course, but to win back rural voters it will need to expand its ambition beyond just net zero.
Labour wants to go down the route of sit back, relax, we’ll deliver net zero. They may well achieve this. But the Conservatives need to say they can take voters with them. Rural communities are shaped around the natural environment and there are immeasurable benefits of green space access in urban areas. Those communities should at least have some say over how their local area manages the associated challenges.
The Conservative Party must not think of environmental policy as merely pylons and panels, it must extend its policy beyond just a carbon tunnel vision. But not only this, it must give a sense of we are all in this together, nature included.
Views expressed in this blog are those of the author, not necessarily those of the Conservative Environment Network. If you are a CEN supporter, councillor, or parliamentarian and would like to write for the CEN blog, please email your idea to info@cen.uk.com
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