Sir Keir Starmer’s army were adamant that theirs would be a ‘serious’ government of ‘grown ups’ – and yet it seems petty politics is back in vogue. It now transpires that No. 10 has blocked plans to bring the beaver back to Britain because officials view it as an, er, ‘Tory legacy’. Talk about wild insecurities, eh?
Former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson was perhaps one of the most vocal advocates of the policy – seeking permission for his father to release the animals on his estate before pledging in 2021 to ‘Build Back Beaver!’. But no idea is a good plan if it’s a Tory one, it seems. According to the Guardian‘s sources, No. 10 officials put a halt to the move – which would have allowed conservationists to release beavers into the wild to live freely and repopulate – over concerns about it originating from the Conservative party. How very interesting.
The rather odd turnaround comes after the government’s nature watchdog Natural England spent time drawing up reintroduction plans. In fact, even though the proposals were signed off by Environment Secretary Steve Reed, Downing Street officials still intervened to block the beaver bid. Forget all the benefits the animals can bring to local wildlife – it seems it’ll take more than the promise of ‘ecosystem engineers‘ to persuade the Starmtroopers to abandon their partisan politics…
Natural England bosses have been left seething, according to the Grauniad, with their years of hard work looking to amount to nothing. The Wildlife Trust’s Rob Stoneman fumed that ‘it’s extremely frustrating that wild beaver licences have been blocked’, citing the rodents as a handy solution to Britain’s freshwater crisis, while leading nature charity bosses have written to Reed in a last-ditch attempt to urge him to push through the policy.
For its part, a government spokesperson insisted:
This story is categorically untrue. The government is working with Natural England to review options on species reintroduction, including beavers.
Not that this has convinced everyone, however, with wildlife charities left rather jittery about the reported row-back. It’s just one damn thing after another with this Labour lot…
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