On the second day of the King's Speech Debate, Conservatives will
today (Friday 19 July) warn Labour off riding roughshod over the
countryside and ignoring rural communities.
Labour have put forward policies that will remove Green Belt
protections by re-imposing top-down targets and taking away local
people's say. Conservatives will argue that they have failed
support removing bureaucratic legacy EU laws that hold back
brownfield regeneration, allowing new homes to be built without
impacting national Green Belt protection.
This week Deputy Prime Minister wrote to local authorities
making clear that they will be required to “review” Green Belt
boundaries. It comes despite Labour's own MPs history of
opposition to development in their constituencies, including the
majority of Labour's own frontbench, levelling the accusation of
hypocrisy over their new position. During the election, Labour
pledged only to build on the ‘Grey Belt', but their top-down
plans are now requiring councils to review the whole Green Belt.
It is already the case in national planning policy that
brownfield land in the Green Belt can be developed.
Labour's King's Speech also included a number of commitments on
development including building on Green Belt, doubling onshore
wind and tripling solar power by 2030. Shadow Environment and
Rural Affairs Secretary will challenge Labour on how
much farmland will be taken out of production to achieve this,
and what mitigations will they put in place to protect food
security.
Much like their manifesto, where Labour used only 87 words to
describe their plans for farming, the King's Speech barely
mentioned the future of our farmers and food security. will call for Labour to match
the £1 billion UK-wide agriculture budget over the next
parliament – a commitment made by the Conservatives but ignored
by Labour. He will also call on the Labour Government to
introduce a legally binding target to enhance our food
security.
The Conservative Party will reaffirm their commitment to
safeguard national Green Belt protection and back our farming
communities, ensuring the countryside is preserved for future
generations. In Government, the Conservatives protected the Green
Belt while delivering 2.5 million homes across England. The
previous Conservative government also made sure that rural
communities were properly supported.
, Shadow Environment and Rural
Affairs Secretary said:
“This King's Speech confirmed that Labour simply aren't on the
side of our farming and fishing industries.
“They haven't matched the Conservative commitment to increase the
UK-wide agriculture budget by £1 billion over the Parliament, nor
to introduce a legally binding target to enhance our food
security.
“And when it comes to rural communities, it seems they simply
want to ignore their voice to concrete over the Green Belt or
cover it in solar panels and pylons.”
