Action on the climate crisis has become central to the 2019 election campaign, with all major parties vastly expanding the scope of their ambition to protect the environment.
Theres been a bidding war on tree planting numbers, with 2 billion, 700 million, 60m and 30m trees pledged by Labour, the Greens, Lib Dems and Tories respectively.
There was the pledge to end fracking until there is evidence it can be done safely by the Conservatives, bowing down to years of fierce environmentalist pressure.
And perhaps most dramatically, there was a no-show by party leaders Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage at Channel 4s Climate Debate, with the pair instead replaced by melting ice sculptures.
The tone of the campaign reflects public pressure for government to act on the environment with intensity never before seen in UK politics. A YouGov poll at the beginning of the election period listed climate change as the fourth most important issue, with 25 per cent of Brits placing it in one of their top three, up from the eight per cent recorded at the same point in the 2017 election.
Eating habits have themselves become part of the climate debate, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) calling for people to buy less meat, milk, cheese and butter and eat more locally-sourced seasonal food.
The general election takes place on Thursday 12 December. Image Flickr/Michael D Beckwith.
Due to the close connection between food, farming and the climate, these policies are interlinked, as well as being important in their own right, covering farm subsidies, support for agroecological farming, food security, and local food economies.
On food, farming and the environment, the top four parties are, however, promising very different agendas and timetables. Here is a round up of their headline manifesto pledges on all three areas:
Conservative:
Read the full Conservative manifesto here.
Labour:
Labours full manifesto can be found here.
Liberal Democrats:
Read the full Lib Dem manifesto here.
Green Party:
Read the full Green Party manifesto here.
Link:
Election pledges: Food, farming and climate - Wicked Leeks
