Editorial

Sustainable Britain

New Ground 61
Summer 2001

We are about to experience the second term of a Labour government for the first time in a generation, and with a significant majority. As environmental problems mount, this administration could be pivotal in the progress towards sustainable development in the UK.

Hence our theme for the summer 2001 issue of New Ground, a hopeful look forward to what a sustainable Britain might look like, and our cover picture of one vision of sustainability, albeit artifical, the Eden Project biosphere in Cornwall. Labour's first term has delivered some genuine moves towards sustainability. Global leadership on climate change, the beginning of environmental tax reform and the setting out of an integrated transport policy all moved the environment closer to the heart of policy making. But we have a long way to go and SERA believes that if Labour win a second term, these moves must be used as first steps toward a much broader, positive vision of a sustainable Britain. This will be the theme of SERA's campaigns over the next two years and the articles contained in this issue of New Ground illustrate some of what we mean by that concept.

A sustainable Britain will require a far more fundamental shift towards a low carbon, high value, high innovation economy. Industries such as renewable energy, waste recycling and low input agriculture must become mainstream sectors of the economy. This will require the government to set a framework to enable and encourage such developments. It will also require a strategy to help the loser sectors adapt to change.

In recent months there have been signs that the techno-fix end of the sustainability debate is being embraced by New Labour. The prime minister has announced more money for renewable energy, along with a major review of green energy policy being undertaken in the Performance and Innovation Unit in the Cabinet Office, the PM's personal think tank. The foot and mouth crisis has also precipitated some serious rethinking over the direction of food and farming policy. This is bound to be high on the list of priorities for the new cabinet. The signs are that more radical measures are to be discussed by government, but the vested interests protecting the status quo will be as fierce as ever and the test will come when these interests have to be faced down, as they were to some extent over the Climate Change Levy.

But in a sustainable Britain, certain aspects of our lifestyle will also have to change. The most obvious example of this is our attitude to and dependence on the car, but the way we dispose of waste and consume energy will also have to change. The government will have to find more innovative ways to encourage individuals to change their behaviour, by enabling choice and incentivising sustainable options over others. This part of the agenda will be more difficult and, certainly over transport, the first term saw Labour shying away from those challenges. If the government is to take on these issues then it needs to be supported by campaigns from the environmental movement which challenge our own behaviour as consumers.

Above all, a sustainable Britain needs political leadership. The benefits for Britain, in terms of quality of life improvements, of a sustainable economy and society are well documented and, SERA believes, within our reach. A powerful Labour government in its second term can seize this opportunity for change and lead a partnership of non governmental organisations and businesses to help deliver that change.

SERA's campaigns over the next two years will make the case for Labour to step up its policies for a sustainable Britain.