Thread by @ShaunSpiers1

I've been in meetings all day & am struggling to catch up on the govt's proposal to the EU. But it looks pretty grim for the environment. Getting rid of the backstop means getting rid of the environmental protections in the Withdrawal Agreement.
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The backstop provisions of the Nov 2018 Withdrawal Agreement set out to guarantee environmental protections & access to environmental justice. It covered air quality, biodiversity, waste, chemicals, climate change etc.
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The backstop committed the UK and the EU to respecting key environmental principles. 3/

It covered climate change and has various other environmental provisions. 4/

Para 79 of the Nov 2018 Political Declaration stated that the EU-UK future relationship would be based on the level playing provisions in the Withdrawal Agreement. These have now been junked. bit.ly/2oz4GCW 5/

The govt will say, "don't worry, you can trust us to do the right thing". And I do trust some of them - @CEN_HQ's visibility at Conservative conference was impressive & there are some good ministers working hard to improve the environment. 6/

But there are also the likes of @trussliz @Jacob_Rees_Mogg & all those advisers from market fundamentalist think-tanks who are, er, not so committed. And the EU will read this shift in thinking as a signal that post-Brexit the UK wants to undercut them: low standards UK. 7/

It's easy to understand why. As David Baldock of @IEEP_eu explains, non-regression and the level playing field are largely about standards, not how they are achieved. Ditching the backstop makes it look v much as if the UK wants to lower standards.
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If the UK gets a deal on these terms, it will be at the price of making it harder to a good trade deal with the EU. If we don't get a trade deal with the EU, there's likely to be a lowering of standards & a pivot to the US. 9/

That, of course, is the aim of the anti-regulation brigade: they want low standards UK. I can't believe it's what the government as a whole wants, but they're making it more & more likely.

Dangerous times for everyone who cares for our environment. 10/10