Environment and Agriculture
AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES
Britains self-sufficiency in food has declined by 9 per cent since 1997;
farm output by 5 per cent; farming incomes by 14 per cent in real terms; and
the agricultural labour force by 15 per cent.
Over the past seven years, the effective rate of pay for dairy farmers has
averaged £2.90 an hour, for a 70-hour week.
It costs the UK dairy farmer between 18 and 23 pence to produce a litre of
milk and yet, since 2000, average farm-gate prices have been only between 16
and 20 pence per litre.
The Foot and Mouth crisis is estimated to have cost to the UK economy £10
billion by the Institute of Directors and resulted in the slaughter of about
10 million animals.
Bovine TB is increasing by 20 per cent every year and is estimated to cost
£2 billion over the next ten years without a cure being found.
Between 1995 and 2002, British fishing saw a 25 percent reduction in
catches.
The Government only has 9 sniffer dogs guarding all 110 entry points to the
UK to protect the public from the risk of illegal meat imports.
CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY
Carbon dioxide emissions have risen under Labour. Conservative policies
achieved a 6.9 per cent reduction between 1990 and 1997.
The Government has admitted that, based on current policy, the UK will not
achieve its 20 per cent reduction target by 2010, but will achieve a reduction
of just 13 per cent. Much of this reduction is a result of the dash for gas
under the Conservative Government.
Renewable energy generation now stands at less than 3 per cent of our total
energy generation.
Despite Labours pledge to eliminate fuel poverty, the Government has
reduced insulation standards in social housing, causing extra emissions of CO2
and leaving nearly two million people with cold homes and in fuel poverty.
RURAL DECAY
Rural dwellers are paying more in council tax than urban residents but
receiving worse services owing to the way the Government distributes the
central grant (Sparse Report The Rural Council Tax Gap, 2 August 2004).
Homelessness in rural areas has risen by 30 per cent since Labour came to
power and is rising at more than three times the rate in urban areas
(Countryside Agency State of the Countryside Report 2004).
3 rural post offices and 6 rural pubs are closing every week.
58 per cent of households in rural areas do not have access to a regular bus
service.
Rural crime costs farmers £100 million a year, yet 98 per cent of parishes
have no permanently staffed police station.
COSTLY BUREAUCRACY
According to the CBI, the direct cost to UK business of complying with
environmental regulation is £4 billion a year.
CONSERVATIVE ACTION
Conservatives will immediately abolish the Over Thirty Month Rule for
cattle, which costs the British taxpayer £360 million a year and costs the
cattle industry a further £100 million a year.
Conservatives will abolish the Agricultural Wages Board.
Conservatives will seek to strengthen the Code of Practice to improve
transparency between the producers, retailers and processors in the farming
industry, and would create a more helpful fiscal framework for the
establishment of farming cooperatives.
Conservatives will legislate to introduce clearer food labelling to enable
consumers to make more informed choices and ensure that British products are
labelled as such.
Conservatives will seek further reform of the Common Agricultural Policy to
allow simpler and more localised interpretation and implementation of the
Single Farm Payment.
Conservatives are committed to the phasing out of the use hydrofluorocarbons
(HFCs), which currently account for 2 per cent of the UK's greenhouse gas
emissions, between 2008 and 2014.
Conservatives will give the general public clear, self-funding incentives to
invest in energy efficiency and expand Labours Energy Efficiency Commitment
to involve more groups and interested parties retailers as well as the gas
and electricity supply companies - to promote competition in energy
efficiency.
Conservatives would examine how the Climate Change Levy could be replaced by
a more effective set of incentives on all non-domestic users of energy not
covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.
Conservatives will continue to work closely with the construction industry
to simplify the building regulations and achieve a road map to zero emissions
new build.
Conservatives will reform the renewable energy support mechanisms in order
to facilitate a broader portfolio of renewable energy development, including
tidal, wave and offshore wind, biomass, Combined Heat and Power, and small
scale microgeneration at community or individual level.
Conservatives will reduce Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) on new cars in the
existing DVLA bands C to Triple AAA. Tax reductions will range from £10 in
Band C to £65 in Band AAA. In 2004, it is estimated that over 1.8 million car
owners would have benefited from such reductions.
Conservatives will double the existing programme of grants for buying
cleaner vehicles and fitting emission-reducing equipment. Taken together with
the VED reduction, the policy will triple the value of Government incentives
for British motorists to make greener choices. In addition, we will support
colour-coded tax discs so that people know the environmental impact of the car
that they drive.
Conservatives will seek further reform of the Common Agricultural Policy to
allow simpler and more localised interpretation and implementation of the
Single Farm Payment.
Conservatives are committed to the phasing out of the use hydrofluorocarbons
(HFCs), which currently account for 2 per cent of the UK's greenhouse gas
emissions, between 2008 and 2014.
Promoted by G A Nichols on behalf of Andrew Turner, both of 58 The Mall, Carisbrooke Road, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 1BW and by
Island Webservices, 2 Highwood Lane, Rookley, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, PO38 3NN
