OLL LEWIS: Forestry Update

As climbdowns go it is a bit weak but it is a climbdown nonetheless. After a public outcry, the government are to reconsider key parts of their policy to sell off Britain's forests. The government are not yet saying they will abandon the policy altogether but it is a small victory for anyone who wrote to their MP with their concerns.


There are two possible directions in which the policy will go: one way is that this could simply be a tactic to reintroduce a slightly amended policy later when the government believe people will have lost interest, or hopefully it is the beginning of the process of abandoning this half-baked policy. Sadly, my money is on the first direction being the way the Tories are hoping it will go, because history teaches us that the Tories have a habit of selling off things owned by the public at a low price, usually to people they are closely linked to, and letting younger people pick up the pieces a few years down the line.


Their plan to privatize the Forestry Commission is still, as I write this, going ahead but if you (yes, YOU) get writing to your MP and keep the pressure up because all indications are that this is working so far, so the more letters they get the better.