However, it has compounded suspicions that the Tories’ born-again enthusiasm for the environment is “greenwash”. These have been stoked by two policy announcements. The most recent, which sparked Perry’s tweet, is last week’s proposal that fracking should be subject to the planning regime normally used to determine house extensions. Under this, fracking applications would be treated as “permitted development” and wouldn’t have to go through the full-blown planning process.
The fracking proposal emerged a week after the government published a consultation paper outlining plans for environmental protection in the post-Brexit era. It has been panned in green circles because, unlike the European Commission, the new agency is not being given powers to take the government and its agencies to court if they fail in their environmental duties. Former Environment Agency chief executive Baroness Young has branded it a “watchpoodle”.
Nobody who has seen Perry speak will doubt that she feels strongly about the decarbonising agenda. She has spent a lot of time in the past year making the case that the Tories are serious about protecting the environment. From now on, though, observers will be increasingly focusing on policy substance rather than ministerial rhetoric.