Enfield Council is believed to be the first elected body to ban meat at its events in order to combat so-called manmade climate change.
First reported by political news site Guido Fawkes on Tuesday, the Labour council’s climate action plan published this month pledged that from December, “all events held by Enfield Council where catering is provided [must] offer only vegan or vegetarian options.”
The move is part of the authority’s action plan to “influence the behaviour of Enfield’s key partners, suppliers, and the wider economy to transition to low or zero-carbon.”
With the announcement buried on page 35 of the document and amidst claims that the council had paid only “minor lip service” to the public’s view of the plans, the Countryside Alliance told Guido: “It’s telling that those behind this illogical proposal have sought to bury what they know will be an incredibly unpopular policy deep within a lengthy document.”
The Country Alliance’s head of press, Mo Metcalf-Fisher, continued that banning meat was the “wrong approach” and showed the council’s ignorance of how meat is produced in the United Kingdom, which he said made it “among the most sustainable in the world”.
“Enfield Council would do well to actually consult with the farming community as well as their local residents and drop this proposed ban immediately,” Mr Metcalf-Fisher said.
The North London council is following in the steps of the likes of the far-left University of London college, Goldsmiths, which banned beef in August 2019 to reduce carbon emissions.
While climate change activists have claimed that ending the consumption of meat would reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, some scientists have argued that a vegan lifestyle could be worse for the environment.
Rothamsted Institute’s Graham McAuliffe quoted a report at a National Union of Farmers conference in February that claimed the way some meat alternatives like tofu are produced have a larger carbon footprint than chicken, lamb, or pork because the human body requires a higher volume of non-meat substances than meat in order to absorb enough nutrients.
Vegan lobbyists have been pressuring the government to put a tax on meat, similar to ‘sin taxes’ on high-sugar foods. In March, a report produced by a body created by the Conservative government has said that Britons must drastically cut their meat consumption — by up to 50 per cent — to meet the government’s pledge to hit net zero by 2050.
The agreement was made by the previous prime minister, Theresa May. However, Boris Johnson has shown no indication that he will reverse the commitment, with Breitbart News’s James Delingpole warning that “Net Zero is going to destroy Boris Johnson’s administration in the way that Brexit destroyed David Cameron’s.”
This week sees the resurgence of the centrist, liberal “One Nation” Tories, who have shifted their focus from stopping Brexit to trying to Make Boris Johnson Liberal Again. One of the group’s endeavours is to achieve “carbon New Zero”.