Viewpoint: Political Tribalism And Cynicism Must End

Political tribalism and cynicism must end

What food and farming needs from government to survive climate crisis

Caroline Lucas MP and the Soil Association have both warned of the vulnerability of food and farming to environmental breakdown and highlighted the need for urgent political reform.

Speaking at this year's Peter Melchett Memorial Lecture, Caroline Lucas, former Green Party Leader and Brighton Pavilion MP since 2010, called for an urgent re-imagining of politics in the face of the environmental and nature crises.

Lucas said: "Peter Melchett understood that the state of Britain's politics and the state of our environment were inextricably linked. He knew that you can't have a good environment without effective politics. That means an end to short-term thinking and far more joined-up government.

"Getting food politics right is the political challenge. The Climate Change Committee has played a critical role in driving action on global heating – we now need an equivalent statutory committee, reporting to parliament, to advise the government of the day on what must be done to build the resilience of our food and agriculture system to the shocks to come."

On the same day, the Soil Association launched its new 'The Time is Now' report – its vision for the decade ahead, calling for a better approach to policymaking. Despite some notable progress in the past decade – such as parliament's declaration of a climate and nature emergency – the report argues it is clear that "the tribalism and cynicism of traditional Westminster politics is fatally impeding action urgently needed to tackle the combined environment, nature and health crises".

The report calls for new alliances, new forms of citizen engagement, a new spirit of pragmatism and courage in political decision-making. It highlights that extreme weather events and climate shocks are becoming more common, threatening food system stability.

Soil Association CEO Helen Browning said: "These issues are beyond party politics. Real leadership will be to build consensus across political divides, to be the grown-ups in the room who refuse to weaponise environmental necessity for political gain.

"We are in the majority, and by working together, we can still realise a better future. Only arrogance and vested interest stand in our way."

Soil Association Head of Food and Health Policy, Rob Percival, said: "A 'Climate Change Committee' for food could be game-changing, forcing governments to take long-term food system resilience seriously. Without such a body, UK food and farming will be at an increased risk of disruption or even collapse."

Caroline Lucas's lecture and the publication of the Soil Association's report follow stark warnings from a coalition of twelve leading scientists, writing in the journal Biosciences, who were shocked at the pace of environmental breakdown. They said: "As scientists, we are increasingly being asked to tell the public the truth about the crises we face in simple and direct terms. The truth is that we are shocked by the ferocity of the extreme weather events in 2023. We are afraid of the uncharted territory that we have now entered."

The Time is Now report can be downloaded at soilassociation.org/policy-reports