Water is the most critical resource issue of our lifetime and our children's lifetime. The health of our waters is the principal measure of how we live on the land.”
Luna Leopold
The RSBP, that most gentle and respected of UK wildlife organisations, was so incensed by the governments breaking of its pledge not to weaken environmental protections, that it issued the above photograph and caption.
The governments decision to allow building developers (one of the biggest Conservative Party's donors) to pollute our already ailing waterways with extra phosphates and nitrates so incensed the RSPB that they issued the above photograph and caption saying:
"You said you wouldn’t weaken environmental protections. And yet that’s just what you are doing. You lie, and you lie, and you lie again. And we’ve had enough."
This has exposed them to serious political attack. Tory MP Mark Jenkinson claimed the RSPB was entering the political arena and called for the Charity Commission to strip it of its charity status. These cries were echoed in the Express that stated:
“Tories slam RSPB charity over housebuilding row as MPs call for charity status to go.” (Express: 30/08/230
Needless to say the RSPB, having come under such heavy criticism and threat, felt the need to offer an apology for its earlier post saying its "frustration” had led it “to attack the people not the policy”.
This raises two important issues.
Should, and are, charities allowed to "enter the political arena” in areas that concern their charitable wok?
The answer is a resounding YES. The governments own paper, “Political activity and campaigning by charities” states:
“Charities can take part in political activity that supports their purpose and is in their best interests.”(2022)
2. Can you attack a policy without attacking the people who drew it up?
Well, of course you can but policies do not write themselves. Political policies have sponsors, they have authors, and they have approval and enactment by politicians. If these politicians can no longer be named and shamed then this is another blow to our ever-diminishing democracy.
A government that is so weak and insecure that it feels the need to threaten the UK’s leading bird charity with extinction is a government in serious moral decline and one not fit for purpose.
