Protect environment laws that are hanging by a thread

From sewage dumping in our waters in the name of shareholder profit to rises in life-threatening levels of air pollution. Strengthening our existing environment laws and enforcing them couldn’t be more urgent.

But our regulations are hanging by a thread. Through the Retained EU Law Act, Ministers have been handed a free pass to unravel our environment laws for the next 3 years. Which means they could weaken thousands of the laws that protect people and nature.

We’ve got to show everyone across the government that we won’t stand for any attempts to unravel our protections. We must let ministers know we’re watching whether they use their new powers to water down our environment laws.

That’s why we’re writing to all government departments, asking them to strengthen our protections, not weaken them.

Will you sign the letter?  

• Read the open letter in full

  Dear UK government department heads,  

  We are writing to you on behalf of people from across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

  The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act is now law. We understand that this means that departments now face the possibility of overhauling hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of pieces of retained EU law over the next 3 years. 

  A huge number of these laws, overseen not only by Defra but across all departments, impact our natural environment. We value these laws because they make us feel safe. They protect the things we love, like threatened habitats and species, and they safeguard the things we need, like clean water and safe air.  

  These laws aren’t all working perfectly right now. The REUL review process could help to fix this, if it focuses on making legal safeguards clearer, stronger or better enforced. But if ministers propose changes that will further threaten the health of communities and our environment, it could be a disaster.     

  We are asking that all government departments: 

  • Set out a timeline for any planned REUL review process. 
  • Guarantee transparency and full public consultation on any laws proposed for review. 
  • Resist needless and dangerous deregulation, so that any changes lead to improved protections, not less protection. 

   

  The laws we have now were agreed through democratic processes over decades. We can’t allow ministers to weaken or unravel them without reason. So thousands of us are watching to see how ministers use their new powers, and how departments will make sure the environment doesn’t lose out.   

  We want to be able to rely on the law to protect the things we love, and to guarantee us a healthy environment. And we know that the people of all government departments want that too. Will you commit to take the steps outlined above, and do all you can to make that a reality? 

  Yours, 

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