Why environmental deregulation would devastate wildlife and our future

That tree you climbed as a child. Gone. The family of Swifts that visit your town each year. Bulldozed. The air you breathe. Polluted.  The river where you take a dip on a summer’s day. Don’t risk it. Those targets to protect nature. Ancient history.   
   
This is a future that may not be too far away if some of the reports flying around Westminster once again are anything to go by. The Chancellor is rumoured to be embarking on a deregulation crusade, and it seems environmental regulations may be in her sights. Removing unnecessary complexity and duplication, making things clearer for businesses and improving how rules are implemented and enforced is sensible.  But too often ‘simplification’ and ‘efficiency’ are shorthand for cutting corners, watering down standards and stripping back on advice and enforcement. Every new government for the last 20 years has initiated at least one 'slashing red tape-esque' review, only to realise it is not the answer.

Environmental regulation isn’t unnecessary paperwork that needs to be rubber stamped, or a dreamed-up concept to frustrate and antagonise. And regulators like the Environment Agency and Natural England are not “red tape” factories, as some would like you to believe. These institutions are there to ensure our rivers remain fishable, our air breathable, our countryside hums with wildlife, and our land resilient to floods. Their work underpins key sectors from agriculture to tourism, while limiting the spiralling financial burden of climate-related disasters.

Take Natural England, the leading body for the protection and restoration of the environment in England. Its whole revenue budget is around £220million. That's about half a day's worth of NHS running costs, not even double Thames Water's latest fine from Ofwat, and less than half of what Liverpool football club have spent on players this season alone. And cutting it wouldn’t drive savings, it would contribute to economic disaster.   
   
The Chancellor would be playing a dangerous game by ignoring nature and the role environmental protection plays in the whole economy. Last year, a report from the Green Finance Institute warned that nature degradation could reduce the UK’s GDP by up to 12% in the coming years. That’s a deeper economic hit than the 2008 financial crisis or the COVID-19 pandemic. HM Treasury literally cannot afford to ignore this.

Deregulation isn’t progress. Not for our economy, not for nature, not for people. Wildlife would unquestionably suffer, and we’d all have even less access to nature than we do now. All the protections, checks and balances that exist to avoid the worst harm to nature at both micro and macro scales are worth little more than the paper they’re written on unless they are effectively enforced. And in most cases, that’s the role of our regulators.   
   
Poll after poll has shown that, despite a vocal few, the vast majority of UK voters support regulation. For many, regulation equals fairness and common sense. It’s public safety and security, rather than a blocker getting in the way of progress. Whether it's the environment, housing, food or the economy, regulation is the support system we all need to live in a world where people, business and nature can thrive, together.    

 When regulators are well resourced, they can do these things quickly and effectively. Under-resourced agencies are a well-documented cause of delays and can even drive a postcode lottery in enforcement. Businesses need certainty. They need clear rules that don’t change every time the political wind shifts, and to know their competitors will be held to the exact same standards.   
 
As the UK seeks to position itself as a global leader in green finance and sustainable growth, it must ensure its domestic safeguards reflect that ambition. That means empowering regulators, aligning with or exceeding international standards, and embedding environmental risk into fiscal planning.    

Good, effective and well enforced regulation is key to all our futures. The Treasury must speak up for it – not just for nature, but for the economy it underpins.