The Labour Party's flagship rewilding policy is under fire, branded a dangerous gamble that could inadvertently set the British countryside ablaze. Leading rural organisation, the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), has issued a stark warning that the plans risk creating a vast "tinderbox" primed for catastrophic wildfires.
A Policy Under Scrutiny
At the heart of the controversy is Labour's pledge to reintroduce long-lost species like beavers and lynx and create new natural habitats. While framed as a boon for biodiversity, critics argue the party has catastrophically overlooked a critical side effect: a severe escalation in wildfire risk.
CLA President Victoria Vyvyan did not mince words, stating the strategy appears "written by people who have never managed land." She emphasised that the existing British landscape, a mosaic of managed farmland and woodland, is already vulnerable. Introducing vast, unmanaged scrubland, she argues, is a recipe for disaster.
From Green Utopia to Fire Hazard
The core of the argument lies in land management. Carefully grazed pastures and cultivated fields act as natural firebreaks, containing blazes. Rewilding, which often involves reducing human intervention, allows dense, dry undergrowth and scrub to flourish. This material becomes highly flammable, especially during the increasingly hot and dry summers brought on by climate change.
"We need a resilient landscape," Vyvyan explained, "and that comes from blending trees with grazing pasture... not by planting massive forests with no managed firebreaks. What they are proposing would be a tinderbox."
The Looming Threat of Summer Infernos
This warning is not merely theoretical. The UK has already experienced terrifying glimpses of this future, with major wildfires tearing through tinder-dry moorland and forests in recent years. These events strain fire services, threaten lives, and release massive amounts of stored carbon into the atmosphere – the opposite of the policy's intended environmental goal.
The CLA is urging Labour to radically rethink its approach, advocating for a model that integrates tree planting and habitat creation with profitable food production and robust fire prevention measures. The message is clear: a green policy that sparks wildfires is neither sustainable nor smart.
