Foreign Office minister stands down and accuses government of ‘apathy’ over issues relating to climate and environment
Here is an extract from Zac Goldsmith’s resignation letter explaining why he quit.
We also made progress on animal welfare. The government signed off an ambitious Action Plan for Animal Welfare, which would have represented the biggest shake up of animal welfare in living memory. As minister responsible I was able to translate it, bit by bit, into law. We increased sentencing for cruelty from 6 months to 5 years, we recognised in law the sentience of animals, enacted and extended the ivory trade ban, introduced measures to break the pet smuggling trade and banned glue traps. Before you took office, you assured party members, via me, that you would continue implementing the action plan, including the kept animals bill and measures like ending the live export of animals for slaughter, banning keeping primates as pets, preventing the import of shark fins and hunting trophies from vulnerable species.
But I have been horrified as, bit by bit, we have abandoned these commitments – domestically and on the world stage. The kept animals bill has been ditched, despite your promises. Our efforts on a wide range of domestic environmental issues have simply ground to a standstill.
The problem is not that the government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our prime minister, are simply uninterested. That signal, or lack of it, has trickled down through Whitehall and caused a kind of paralysis.
