Last week was going to be the week that David Cameron finally revealed himself to be leading the greenest government ever.  According to advance media stories, the prime minister was to announce ‘a major policy intervention’ and end his silence on green issues in a speech to the Clean Energy Summit meeting in London on …

It is a fact universally acknowledged that the moment any government minister announces a hosepipe ban the heavens open and we get days of unending rain. The drought in parts of England, however, is just the latest example of a long-standing policy failure to properly manage our water supply. This government promised a draft water …

As we get closer to June, excitement is building in the global environment community about the UN Sustainable Development conference in Rio. And that is precisely the problem! As long as Rio+20 remains the hot topic for eco-lobbyists, it will remain profoundly worthy; but it will fail. Rio must be of interest to finance ministers. …

This is a make or break year for sustainable development, and Britain should be leading the world in setting out an ambitious future for green growth and the environment.  The Rio+20 Summit being held in June is the biggest global gathering on sustainable development since the original Rio summit in 1992. It is crucial the …

The environment may point the direction to restoring Labour’s economic credibility. There is little doubt in among the disappointing opinion polls and leader ratings that Labour faces a problem with electoral and crucially economic credibility. I do not believe the issue of personnel should try the party the most, but of economics. For all the …

A fiscal stimulus that cuts energy bills, saves the planet, protects jobs and raises revenue? Yes it is possible. Back in 2009, in the pre-budget report, then chancellor Alistair Darling announced the UK’s first boiler scrappage scheme. It was modelled on the very successful car scrappage scheme that had worked to help protect jobs in …

With the collapse of the Liberal Democrat vote it is tempting for Labour party campaigners in areas where they’ve long been strong to sit back and wait for council seats to fall. And to an extent this is effective – recent polling from YouGov suggests that more than a third of those who voted Liberal …

Labour in government recognised the central importance of food to our economy and way of life. We set up a Cabinet Office enquiry into the food sector: Food 2030 was the first national plan for food since the second world war. We took action to improve supply chains and regulated markets to cut food waste. …

On Tuesday, the Public Bill Committee for the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill will discuss the government’s planned reforms of civil law. In response to lobbying by insurers and those that have fallen foul of the law, the government plans to make it practically impossible for lawyers to take on business and …

From changing the culture of the financial sector to supporting the Arab Spring and watching out for Tory EU-turns, Labour in the European parliament has had a busy year. Its recess time for Westminster and the European parliament. We’ll be back to Brussels in August. Looking back to January, here’s a review of the things …