Alison Murphy/Peat-free Partnership
By Alison Murphy (edited by the Peat-free Team)
This Wednesday 17 July, the King’s Speech marked the start of the new Parliament. The speech outlined the new Labour government’s priorities, including 39 bills that are set to be introduced in the next parliamentary session. As you can imagine, the Peat-free Team was eager to see whether legislation to end peat sales for horticulture would get a mention from the King.
The speech itself was packed with ambitious new bills which focused on economic growth and improving standards of living. It included recognition of the urgent need to tackle the global climate challenge, which was very much welcome as our natural world desperately needs to be a priority for governments. Amongst the list of environmental priorities of the new government were the transition to clean energy and improvement of water quality. What was missing, however, was any mention of legislation to end the sale of peat for use in horticulture.
There are so many complex environmental issues desperately in need of our attention. But legislation to end peat sales is a popular, straightforward step the government could take tomorrow, should they seize the opportunity to act. After years of discussions, there’s now a good understanding of the issues and opportunities to help the horticultural industry to transition smoothly and fairly.
Alison Murphy/Peat-free Partnership
There is proven support for an end to peat sales from amateur gardeners, peat-free horticultural businesses and politicians across the spectrum. Many have already switched, recognising that it’s the right thing to do – both amateur and commercial growers have been successfully growing peat-free for years now. The continued lack of legislation to end peat sales just serves to confuse everyone. It creates an unfair marketplace for peat-free businesses and makes it hard for gardeners to be certain that the plants they buy at the local garden centre have been grown without the environmentally damaging use of peat.
Just because it wasn’t in the King’s Speech doesn’t mean legislation is off the cards altogether, though. With impeccable timing, the very next day the Climate Change Committee presented its annual progress report to Parliament.
In it they highlight the continued failure to implement a ban on the use of peat in horticulture. The report reads (on p. 79): “The Government has still not implemented the ban on peat for amateur horticultural use. The Government should proceed promptly with legislating for a complete ban on peat and peat-containing products in amateur horticulture. This can then gradually be expanded to industrial use.” It couldn’t be clearer: the government must act on this as a vital contribution to meeting its legally binding obligations on reaching net zero and boosting biodiversity. The full report can be found here.
This is our only ask of the new Labour government in their first 100 days in office. Just one thing: pass legislation to end peat sales. That’s it.
It’s not a difficult challenge: legislation to end peat sales would be relatively easy to deliver on and show global leadership on climate and nature before the UN COPs later this year. We hope the new government takes on board the Climate Change Committee’s request, sees the value in getting this legislation done, and moves everyone forward into a bright, modern, sustainable future for horticulture.
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