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Kerry McCarthy MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in a speech to Labour Party Annual Conference in Brighton, said:

Conference, I am delighted to be here as Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

From the Attlee government creating our national parks, to the last Labour government’s ground-breaking Climate Change Act, we can be proud of our record on the environment.

I am determined to carry this forward, working with a great team in the Commons and the Lords, colleagues in the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and our MEPs.

And with the Labour Yes campaign.

Environmental protection, air pollution, the circular economy, food and farming - our continued membership of the European Union is vital on all these issues and more. We achieve so much more by co-operation than by acting alone.

Conference, Defra could be such a force for good.

But the Tories are failing our country and future generations.

First, the Prime Minister appointed Owen Paterson as Environment Secretary.

The man who complained that our planet isn’t warming fast enough and thinks climate change could be a good thing.

Was it any surprise that he slashed funding for climate change adaption or was so woefully unprepared to deal with the floods?  

And since then? Well, just this summer the Government has:

Gagged its own scientific advisors and lifted the EU ban on neonicotinoid pesticides, ignoring the harm they cause to bees.

Made a shabby attempt to bring back fox hunting by the back door. But we showed them what we thought of that! It was a Labour Government that banned hunting with hounds, and Labour will never let it return.

They’ve broken their promise not to allow fracking in water protection zones and sites of special scientific interest. They’ll be trying to get this through parliament soon – and we will do all we can to stop it.

And they are still stubbornly pursuing a policy described by Natural England’s Chief Scientific Advisor as “an epic failure” – the badger cull.

Let’s be clear. Bovine TB is a horrible disease. I have every sympathy with farmers losing their cattle to it.

But Labour will continue to oppose the cull, as we did under Mary Creagh and Maria Eagle.

We will oppose it because it is unscientific, ineffective, and inhumane. And because it is not the answer to bovine TB.

I know farmers are finding it tough. Not being paid enough for what they produce. Too much paperwork, late payments, the exchange rate, and a system of subsidies that needs a fundamental review.

So what is the Environment Secretary doing about this? I don’t think she’s doing enough.

True, she is leading a promotional drive for British food.

We can all support that.

I’d much rather see people buy British lamb, British apples, than imports from half way round the world.

And we need better food labelling, so we know where our food is from, and what is in it. So we can choose to buy British, or to buy local.

We can all get behind that, whatever we eat.

And on that subject.

Yes. I am a vegan. Some people are worried by that.

A UKIP MEP said on my appointment that I would have ‘little in common with consumers of food’.

I can let him in on a secret. I do eat food. Much of it produced by Britain’s farmers.

So let me make it clear. I support British farming. I want it to be economically viable, environmentally sustainable and to have the very best animal welfare standards.

I want big strides towards greater food security – for Britain to become a country that can feed itself.

But Defra isn’t just about farming.

It’s about the food we all eat, the air we all breathe, the land we live on, the water we drink.

So how is the Government doing?

More than a million food bank users last year, a third of them children.

And, while people are going hungry, a third of the food we produce is wasted. Edible food, just thrown away.

And the horsemeat revelations. The fact we didn’t know what was in our food, and whether or not it was safe to eat.

And yet the Government weakened the Food Standards Agency, which should be there to protect us all from food fraud.

Tackling food poverty, food waste, food fraud.

Decent, safe, healthy food for everyone. Why do the Tories think that’s too much to ask?

And what could be more critical to our health than the air we breathe in our towns, our cities, and our countryside?

90 per cent of UK town and cities breach clean air limits. From cancer to asthma, air pollution is making too many of us ill. 50,000 early deaths a year.

The Tories know this.

Just as they apparently knew – a year ago – that diesel cars were cheating emissions tests. Standards that are there to protect our air and our health.

Yet they chose to do nothing. That’s not just shockingly complacent, that’s negligent. It’s a dereliction of duty.

And the Government also has a duty to protect our natural environment.

But where is the long-term planning, the strategic vision we desperately need?

The delight in, and desire to protect, nature?

Labour knows how important this is to all of us. Townies too! That’s why we founded our national parks, protected areas of outstanding natural beauty, created the world’s largest marine conservation zone, and promoted the right to roam.

And it’s why we stopped the Tories from selling off our forests. They belong to all of us.

And so does our most precious resource. Our water.

Yet just 17 per cent of our rivers are healthy.

And the Government is being taken to court for failing protect rivers, lakes and coastal areas from agricultural pollution.

Conference, this Government is no friend of the environment.

And it is no friend of people who live in rural communities either.

They scrapped the Agricultural Wages Board.

Let the wage gap between urban and rural areas rise.

Left rural businesses and communities isolated without broadband or decent transport.

And their failures on affordable housing are forcing people out of the communities they grew up in.

It was a Labour government that acted to curb the unscrupulous activities of the gangmasters, and their shocking exploitation of workers in the agricultural, horticultural and shellfish industries. And it is this Government that has overseen a huge fall in investigations and prosecutions.

Conference, I will be working with my colleagues in the shadow cabinet to rural proof our policies across the board. So that no part of the country is overlooked.

And I will be working with Lisa as we face head on the environmental threats of the 21st century. If this Government won’t show leadership as we head towards December’s crucial climate change talks - then we will.

Conference, I know so many of you care passionately about these issues too.

That there is a mass movement of support out there, willing us on to do the right thing. I look forward to working with you all.

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