Queen’s Speech

Lord Kirkham Excerpts

Monday 17th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kirkham (Con)]

I add my welcome to the noble Lords, Lord Coaker and Lord Morse. There is much to be proud of in the United Kingdom when it comes to the environment. I am thinking here particularly of the global leadership we have shown in setting out our 2050 net-zero target for carbon emissions. Why then do so many of us treat our beautiful country as if it were a rubbish dump? Why does not everyone care about where we live? What has happened to our self-respect? When did our nation of shopkeepers become a land of litter louts?

I warmly welcome the promise in Her Majesty’s gracious Speech that the Government

“will invest in new green industries to create jobs, while protecting the environment,”

and

“will set binding environmental targets.”

I desperately hope that we can also take big, positive strides towards a cleaner, greener Britain because there is one area in which Britain is most definitely not a world leader and that is in the way that we treat our urban and rural environment when it comes to waste disposal. We are only too familiar with the mountains of trade and domestic waste deliberately and illegally dumped on the roadside—the stained mattress, the old sofa, rusting refrigerators, electrical items, plastic bin bags of builders’ rubble and, now, disposable face masks.

It is no surprise that research suggests that we have few, if any, rivals for the unwanted title of “most littered country in the developed world”. It is getting worse; if an area looks like a tip, it is no surprise that many will consider that a green light to treat it as one too. If you drive along the highways and byways in Britain, the evidence is there for all to see. It is an eyesore. Verges are awash with rubbish—cans, plastic bottles, fast food wrappers, cigarette ends, Styrofoam burger boxes and crisp packets casually hurled out of vehicle windows. Pavements are encrusted with chewing gum. What a fine impression this will make on those who visit us for global economic or environmental summits, or tourists from abroad—what a memory of our green and not-so-pleasant land.

Sadly, we have become a “don’t care” society, where too many people just do not give a jot about their community and the environment on their doorstep, who do not regard the dropping of litter as an anti-social and criminal act—not only a contravention of the law but a crime against society. It is soul-destroying and dangerous to humans and animals; it pollutes the very air we breathe; it depresses and saps a nation’s morale. Living in filth makes us feel worthless. It is expensive too; street cleaning alone costs the taxpayer over £1 billion annually.

What are we going to do about it? How can we mitigate this growing litter epidemic, clean up our act for the next generation and make this appalling behaviour socially unacceptable? While business in general and the Government clearly have a part to play, at root it is a societal problem. It is people who litter—us. The only lasting resolution is to change our behaviour. That requires a cultural shift.

Clearly, in the long term it is a challenge of education and persuasion. That starts in our schools, colleges and homes. But there are positive actions we can take now; notably, making the new office for environmental protection responsible for litter enforcement and ensuring that local authorities and Highways England and its counterparts in the devolved nations actually fulfil their responsibilities to act against litter droppers—fine them, enforce the existing sanctions and clear up the detritus they leave in their wake.

Some 50 years ago, we saw much less litter on our roadsides, but back then it was also socially acceptable to get behind the wheel of a car while the worse for wear from alcohol—not any more. The same kinds of changes that made drink-driving uncool can also turn the tide on litter: education, advertising and penalties—not just heavier fines, but the likelihood of being ostracised for defying social norms.

This is still a beautiful country, but it is, sadly, a messy, dirty and scruffy one—and getting worse. Improved air and water quality, the regeneration of nature and the reduction of carbon emissions are all essential to the long-term health of the environment, but so too is ensuring that we stop despoiling our cities, towns and countryside by treating them as rubbish dumps, with their threat to public health. It is a massive, nationwide problem. Action is urgent and long overdue.