Allow me to introduce you to...
Paradise Regained: The conservative case for restoring English nature 🏴🌳
This new paper is the first step towards a distinctly conservative approach to restoring our green and pleasant land, rooted in our philosophical tradition.
🧵👇
I have no view on whether brown or white eggs are better, but the outrage over this story, especially from some professed free marketeers, is bizarre.
If Sainsbury's wants to change the type of own-brand eggs they sell, because they believe consumers favour greener, more animal welfare-friendly products, then that's their decision. They are under no obligation as a supermarket to stock every kind of egg.
Consumers who dislike white eggs can either buy brown eggs from a different shop (thanks to the free market), or indeed buy the branded brown eggs that Sainsbury's will continue to sell.
Maybe Sainsbury's decision will be unpopular with their customers, and they will be forced to switch back to selling brown eggs to maintain market share. Maybe customers will be fine with white eggs, if they taste and cost the same.
Let's leave it to the free market to determine, not anti-woke cultural warriors.
A bit OTT, no? The carbon benefit may well be real, but the willingness to switch is probably that environmental and commercial incentives are aligning in a way supermarkets didn't realise before Covid. If these hens consume less feed, that's good for emissions, but feed is also one of the biggest input costs in egg production. Lower emissions and lower production costs aren't mutually exclusive, but the former probably does make a better brand story for Sainsburys.
With our summers hotting up because of climate change, @kittyraethomp sets out for @ConHome how the Conservatives can build on their great aircon announcement last week:
By cutting more red tape to green up our towns, get more reservoirs built, and unleash gene editing
"Best and brightest?!
"Bringing incredible skills"
-A quick visual tour of firms allowed to sponsor "skilled worker" visas shows the reality:
1/10 Sai's Bargains Ltd
The failure to get on the property ladder used to be the modern-day bogeyman for young adults. It was used as a constant reminder for young adults to be good. Save money, stop eating avocados and drinking takeaway coffees so that they could someday climb the highly aspirational property ladder. God forbid you’re stuck renting for the rest of your life….
In the Spectator today 👇
"Politics shouldn’t be a last refuge for those who have done nothing else. It should be a duty taken up by people with busy schedules and something to offer," writes @KemiBadenoch.
Read more from the leader of the Conservative Party here 👇
https://t.co/Abiwv6qrDB
Lovely lunchtime pit stop between constituency meetings today at Soper & Co in Toddington.
But did you know that in order to put a few tables and chairs outside, businesses must first apply and often pay for a ‘pavement licence’.
This is essentially a table tax and I’m joining colleagues at @CEN_HQ and calling on the Government to scrap it.
This is a small change that would make a big difference: supporting small businesses, helping high streets to recover, and getting people out and about in their communities.
The instinct to over-regulate is holding Britain back.
It’s time to scrap the table tax.
https://t.co/WNy58DUezE
Lovely lunchtime pit stop between constituency meetings today at Soper & Co in Toddington.
But did you know that in order to put a few tables and chairs outside, businesses must first apply and often pay for a ‘pavement licence’.
This is essentially a table tax and I’m joining colleagues at @CEN_HQ and calling on the Government to scrap it.
This is a small change that would make a big difference: supporting small businesses, helping high streets to recover, and getting people out and about in their communities.
The instinct to over-regulate is holding Britain back.
It’s time to scrap the table tax.
https://t.co/WNy58DUezE
CEN in the @thetimes and @PA
It’s time to lift the de facto ban on air conditioning of new build homes.
This is what @ClaireCoutinho and CEN’s Director @samuelhall0 are calling for this morning.
Sam Hall warns this weekend’s heatwave proves the UK is not prepared for the changing climage. This follows the @theCCCuk’s report that 92% of UK homes are at risk of overheating in the next few decades.
By cutting red tape on building regulations, they are argue this will remove burdensome red tape on developers and help build the homes of the future.
CEN's Director Sam Hall said:
“To protect the health and productivity of Britain into the future, we must adapt to our changing climate. As summers get hotter in the decades ahead, 92% of homes are set to overheat. The government must get out of the way of households and businesses wanting to stay cool.
“The Conservatives are right to call for ending the de facto ban on air conditioning in new homes. Removing this red tape will ensure the homes of the future are prepared for warmer temperatures, help balance the electricity grid in summer, and provide a clean heating solution in winter. Reforming planning is only the first step, however. The government must also tackle the levies and taxes being heaped on electricity bills, to ensure cooling homes is affordable.”
Trees are cool(ing).
🧊If we want people to get outside to enjoy their local communities, that will increasingly mean thinking about how to make our streets cooler.
☀️ As we all endure yet another heatwave, this Woodland Trust study in Cardiff shows the vital role streets trees can play when the weather hots up👇 https://t.co/ksmYYB8aNk
🌳Now would be a great time for @DefraGovUK + @transportgovuk to embrace @AphraBrandreth's amendment idea to liberalise the Highways Act 1980 which currently makes it much harder than it needs to be to plant trees along our streets.
🤯The “good faith” defence has never been stretched quite so far...
For over a decade, one town council has wrongly charged local hospitality businesses up to £4,500 a year for a pseudo Table Tax because it mistakenly thought it owned the land.
Now businesses are being repaid tens of thousands of pounds.
For everyone saying “if it’s the council’s land, businesses should pay” - this is the reality. If councils think they can squeeze hospitality for cash, many will.
One business owner is still waiting for more than £50,000 back.
This is exactly why we need to #ScrapTheTableTax.