What does a “breathing space” budget actually mean? Surely it must be giving people help with the basics. Well, sadly, yesterday’s budget left some serious gaps.
Climate-driven extreme weather is already pushing up prices and deepening food insecurity. Two named storms have already hit, and the PM has warned of a “winter of greater flooding”.
Can there really be breathing space without protecting our ability to grow and secure food or addressing the millions of homes and businesses staring down the barrel of more flooding?
Yes, we’re glad to see much needed steps to help people with their energy bills, but taking money away from the Warm Homes Plan and doubling down on Starmer's attack on nature by removing protections on brownfield sites is short-sighted and dangerous.
We all want a fresh hope for the future, but that requires urgent change across the whole-of-society, not tinkering around the edges, it means restoring nature, building resilience in communities, resourcing our emergency services and tackling climate change head on. This sadly, was a missed opportunity.
So what did John Healey's first budget actually mean for climate and nature?
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Bad news for nature: the potential to expand the Fingleton Review’s findings across more infrastructure sectors.
Hidden in the small print of the budget was the idea of expanding the Fingleton Review, which recommended weakening Habitat Regulations so that developers don’t have to worry about avoiding harm to nature sites when they build nuclear plants. This would be devastating for nature if replicated across other types of infrastructure. If you want to hear more about the Fingleton Review and the threat it poses, do check out The Wildlife Trust’s work on it here, who have led the charge in pushing back against it.
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A new Data Centre Covenant
The rapid expansion of data centres across the UK and the world poses real threats to communities and the environment. Firstly, it is good to see that the data centre covenant pledges to hold data centres to the highest environmental standards, but we need to wait and see the exact details of what this means for nature. However, allowing data centres to burn gas with on-site energy generation is a dangerous decision that undermines our climate targets, and makes the UK’s drive for clean power much harder.
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Decision to remove Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements from developments on brownfield sites.
This budget was a chance for the Government to reset their relationship with nature after the repeated attacks it has made to its protections under Starmer, but sadly, they doubled down instead. Removing Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements on brownfield sites is a decision that will hit communities that need nature most and ignores the glaring impact nature breakdown is having on our ability to respond to, and manage the impacts of, climate change. As Richard Benwell at Wildlife and Countryside Link said “we’ll never protect communities from climate risks or restore wildlife until the whole Government backs nature”. And yesterday, they made clear that is not yet the case.
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Cuts to the DESNZ budget for defence spending
Oddly, this is a mixed picture. On the one hand, it is deeply concerning to see a £1 Billion cut to the Warm Homes Plan less than a year after it was launched, while on the other, we welcome the £200m cut in capital grants for CCUS, as unproven, expensive tech solutions are not the answer to the climate crisis. However, overall, the cuts to the warm homes plan, in a budget that is trying to offer breathing space and to reduce the bill burden, is short-sighted and undermines the government's own mission.
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A £2bn down payment for the Energy Wealth Fund
The Chancellor announced a new Energy Wealth Fund, as part of the UK’s existing National Wealth Fund, which will be channeling more public investment into clean energy projects. This could have just been a positive story, but sadly, it was used as a guise to green light the Jackdaw gas field. As we have made clear, the cost of Jackdaw will far exceed any benefits it creates. The decision to approve the project will deepen the climate crisis, drive more extreme weather and lock the UK into the rollercoaster of fossil fuel prices.
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Approving Jackdaw
We don’t need to repeat previous points made over the last few weeks and months, but claiming the tax receipts of Jackdaw will make a meaningful difference to people's lives is farcical. As the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts show, new drilling is not a viable revenue stream for the Treasury, with the tax receipts from the oil and gas sector set to decline to close to zero by 2031-32. See Uplift's latest briefing on the dangers of the decision to approve Jackdaw and the looming decision on Rosebank to hear more.
