Our rivers and air are filthy. Green spaces are threatened. Nature is in decline. But this June, the government passed a law that could start an unravelling of thousands of the laws that safeguard people and nature.
We’re not just talking about laws on paper. We’re talking about real protections that guard the stuff we value. And if these are weakened, we could be left with more polluted air, dirtier water and fewer protections for wildlife and people. Everyone is worried. Our friends at RSPB and The Wildlife Trusts are also fighting to protect nature, wildlife and our future.
Find out what the Retained EU Law Act means, and how we fought hard to stop thousands of laws disappearing at the end of 2023, and succeeded. And learn why we’re still fighting to save protections which could unravel over the next 3 years without our MPs having a say.
What is the Retained EU Law Act?
In autumn 2022 the UK government announced plans for a bonfire of the laws that protect people and nature. Alongside our supporters we stopped the government’s Retained EU Law Act from lighting that bonfire. But the fight isn’t over yet.
The Act became law in June 2023. And along the way we’ve seen some crucial wins. We helped the government to see some sense, and remove the deletion deadline of 31 December 2023. This means hundreds of laws are safe from simply disappearing this year.
But despite a monumental effort from our supporters, Peers, many MPs and other environmental organisations, the government resisted amendments which would have protected the laws that safeguard our environment and improved parliamentary scrutiny.
This means ministers now have the power to weaken or unravel thousands of the laws that protect people and the environment before 2026. But we still have the power to stop them. We’ll hold the government to promises that the review process won’t result in weaker laws.
We’ll make sure you can defend the laws that clean up our air, hold companies accountable when they pollute, and protect our nature. And we won’t let this law kick off a 3 year long unravelling of the legal protections that we rely on.
What’s at risk?
More polluted air
More pollution in the air we breathe will have consequences for public health and costs to the NHS. Air pollution is a hidden killer. Up to 36,000 premature deaths a year are linked with air pollution in the UK. Children are particularly vulnerable to dirty air. Health effects can include asthma, reduced lung capacity and can even impact their brain development.
Fewer protections for wildlife
3 out of 5 wild species are in decline and 15% are at risk of extinction. The Office for Environmental protection found England is facing a “deeply concerning decline in biodiversity”. We need to halt this. The Retained EU Law bill will pave the way for a loss of species and wildlife habitats, as well as an increase in the damaging presence of pesticides across a range of habitats.
Nature and water protections at risk
Weakening the laws that protect people and our environment will lead to a loss of green and heritage spaces, which are precious to communities and vital for people’s mental and physical health and wellbeing. It also means further pollution in our rivers and streams – we’ve already seen how damaging water pollution is through the sewage scandal.
Timeline: the fight to save our protections
September 2022: the UK government published a plan to review, delete or weaken thousands of laws that protect us and our environment by the end of 2023. We were pretty horrified.
Winter/spring 2022-23: Over 90,000 of us demanded a government rethink its attack on nature protections by signing our petition.
January 2023: Over 8,000 people emailed their MPs ahead of the first big debates on the bill. Lots of MPs voted for changes to these ridiculous plans.
Spring 2023: We sent briefings to Lords to help them explain why these plans needed changing.
11 May 2023: after huge public pressure, the government removed the arbitrary December deletion deadline from its plans. This would have seen thousands of laws at risk in 2023. Instead, just over 600 protections have been listed for the chop.
22 May 2023: The house of Lords fought back against the remaining threat: Handing ministers power to decide which laws get weakened or unravelled. They asked the government to guarantee that ministers won’t be able to weaken or unravel environmental and food laws in carrying out this plan.
24 May 2023: We backed the Lords, and handed in our petition calling for stronger, not weaker, environmental protections. But hours later, our MPs voted against this change.
June 2023: over 10,000 people emailed their MPs. And we sent unravelling puffins out all over the country to spread the word that government was launching a plan to unravel our laws.
12 June 2023: But when the Lords told MPs to think again in June, the government made the wrong decision again.
21 June 2023: MPs voted against the Lord’s amendments again.
29 June 2023: The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act became law
What's next?
We need to keep the pressure on the government to not unravel the protections for our wildlife and our environment.
What can I do?