Sez report

1.2.4.4. National sovereignty 
Conservatives have always viewed national sovereignty as a key principle and will continue to do so. 
Instinctively, we do not want others to control what we perfectly well can do ourselves. It is clear, 
however, that many of today’s environmental problems transcend national boundaries. Half the air 
pollution we produce in Britain we export to the rest of Europe while, in turn, half of what we suffer 
comes from the Continent. Only by having common standards can we hope to tackle the problem 
successfully, just as clean beaches require a clean North Sea and English Channel – on both sides. In 
these environmental issues we are in it together and we need to fashion the arrangements so that they 
give maximum national flexibility while insisting on the necessarily high standards we need from all. 
Nowhere is this more important than in dealing with climate change where the active policy that 
Britain has pursued under both Governments has done much to establish the EU as the world leader on 
these issues. Indeed, without that European co-operation it is difficult to believe that Kyoto would 
have happened. It is therefore crucial that a future Conservative government should play a key role in 
working within the EU and other international institutions if we are to create a sustainable future for us 
all.
David Cameron has made clear that the UK can far more easily confront sustainability challenges if 
we stand with the EU as part of the world’s largest trading bloc enabling us to play on a far bigger 
stage than we could on our own. He has also highlighted his agenda for the EU which demands that 
together we focus on three things: ‘globalisation, global warming, and global poverty’. In 2006, he 
proved that this focus could deliver with the support of his Party when Conservative MEPs helped to 
ensure that environmental safety came before commercial interests in a crucial vote on chemicals 
regulation. That regulation has since become the benchmark for many Governments and businesses 
throughout the world, including much of the US. 
The UN and G8 also play a key role. The UK has a strong position in this regard: as a nation and as 
part of the EU we have been a leading player in climate change negotiations at the United Nations. 
Previous Conservative Governments have helped to drive forward the agenda on sustainable 
development at the UN and elsewhere. An incoming Conservative government will need to continue 
this work. In this interconnected world, national sovereignty and international responsibility go hand-
in-hand, and governments which recognise this are far more likely to be successful in delivering for 
their people. 
1.2.5. One nation, one planet 
In 1997, writing in 
Greening the Millennium, 
political scientist Neil Carter wrote that the Labour Party 
‘has an ambivalent attitude to the environment…there is a long-standing suspicion that 
environmentalism is the preserve of the middle classes who, in Crosland’s words, want to “kick the 
ladder down behind them” by focusing on threats to the countryside while ignoring urban decay and 
the material needs of the working class’. 
There is enough in this perception to underline the absolute need for green policies to be inclusive and 
expressed in a way that is relevant to the whole population. Environmental and social issues must 
continue to be part of the same vision not least because environmental damage often affects the more 
disadvantaged members of society most. In 2005 a major study found that, although local 
environmental problems are widespread, they are worse in low-income areas and people living there 
are just as concerned about them as are their better off neighbours.
It is deeply unfair that the rich can largely buy themselves out of the worst of local environmental 
degradation and the very poor suffer in a way which is simply not appreciated by their more affluent 
fellows. It is frankly unacceptable that there should still be, in Disraeli’s words, ‘two nations between 
whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, 

---

20 
and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets. The rich 
and the poor.’ ‘One Nation Conservatism’ has always recognised the importance of social justice – 
delivered by community action and social cohesion, encouraged by the State and not stifled by its urge 
to direct and control.
One Nation Conservatism should walk hand-in-hand with One Planet Conservatism. The prospects of 
the poorest members of our society have not improved since 1997; arguably, they have got worse. In 
David Cameron’s words, ‘a child from a family in poverty today is less likely to rise to the top of the 
income scale than a child in 1970. The gap between life expectancy for the richest and poorest in our 
country is now greater than at any point since the time of Queen Victoria.’ A decent quality of life 
should be the right of everyone in Britain and a Conservative Government should be committed to 
make environmental poverty history.
It is all part of the same issue. Economic, social, and environmental poverty are inextricably 
interlinked and the solution to each is a necessary part of the solution to all. For that reason social 
justice and sustainability – which might be summed up in the phrase ‘One Nation, One Planet’ – have 
gone hand in hand throughout the preparation of this Report. In all of our work we have ensured that 
our policy recommendations – on water, waste, energy, transport, building, food, farming and rural 
affairs and climate change – are socially progressive. We believe that this is the way forward for a 
future Conservative government. Only then will we bridge both the environmental and the social 
divide.
1.2.6. Redefining
progress
A new Conservative administration should seek to reaffirm the fundamental purpose of democratic 
government – that is, to ensure the conditions in which the wellbeing of its people can best be assured 
and enhanced. Defence of the realm and the rule of law are the first two preconditions but our 
understanding of the wellbeing of the nation cannot be so narrowly defined. Peace and prosperity and 
the pursuit of happiness demand a society at ease with itself whose citizens feel empowered to make 
the best of their lives and free to contribute, as well as to benefit, from the community of which they 
are part. GDP is thus not an adequate measure of genuine wellbeing. Economic growth is a vital 
measure of a nation’s success but it is neither exclusive nor complete. As the Sustainable Development 
Commission puts it: