Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Abtisam Mohamed
Main Page: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)Department Debates - View all Abtisam Mohamed's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Environmental Protection and Biodiversity
Abtisam Mohamed Excerpts(1 day, 10 hours ago)
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Abtisam Mohamed (Sheffield Central) (Lab)
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. He may know that Sheffield is well known for being the outdoor city and is one of the few major cities in the UK that has a national park within its boundaries. I support him in his red lines for nature campaign. Does he agree that protecting nature is vital, not just to protect our green spaces, but to make sure that communities have access to the right types of space, so that they are happier and more fulfilled?
Chris Hinchliff
I thank my hon. Friend for her support for the red lines campaign. She is absolutely right about what makes life worth living. Investing in our country, strengthening standards and restoring our natural world will do far more to improve the lives of ordinary people than a short-sighted race to the bottom. That is the Labour tradition: action to correct market failure, not dogmatic deregulation.
There is a nature-loving majority in this country, including the millions of members of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, wildlife trusts, national trusts and so many more. Our Labour Government should be working alongside those groups, not squaring up to them. At the end of the day, there is a lot more of them than there are developer lobbyists. Let us stop this endless cycle of skirmishes. It does not have to be like this. Enough is enough.