Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust are deeply disappointed that the government have again chosen to waste time with unnecessary legislation and drag nature into divisive culture wars at a time when biodiversity is in freefall.  Against the backdrop of the delay to the roll out of biodiversity net gain, the weakening of policies on net zero, and the delay to the review of the National Planning Policy Framework, the UK government has cemented its damaging approach to the nature and climate crises by failing to include a single piece of environmental legislation in the King’s Speech.

This speech offered no clarity on the future of nature-friendly farming, with little reassurance that toxic issues like nutrient neutrality won’t rear their heads again in the coming weeks and months. For us in Gloucestershire, a weakening of Water Framework Directive rules could have a huge impact on our key rivers, the Severn and the Wye, which are already suffering from record levels of pollution. Our rivers are changing from being the lifeblood of our counties to places of politicking, full of not just waste but broken promises.

We must be clear- nature is in freefall, with one in six species now at risk of extinction in the UK. Now is the time for bold action, for politicians to take a stand for nature and commit to action to prevent biodiversity collapse. Now is the time to go faster, to be ambitious for nature and to reflect those ambitions in concrete, actionable and timely policy, not more empty promises.