Do you fancy giving up your home and living the life of an ‘eco warrior’?  Want to see the end of farming?

Well, you might be doing so in the not too distant future. Wales, England, Scotland – you need to speak up!

Carrie Symonds, the Prime Minister’s girlfriend, who works for Oceana, was one of the ‘personalities’ at a featured ‘Bird Fair’ alongside many speakers including Tony Juniper, former chief executive of Friends of the Earth and a Green Party Parliamentary Candidate, and head of Natural England quango. 

It would appear that they are connected to a campaign group, Rewilding Britain, which launched a network, ‘Summit2Sea’.  The campaign group say that they are “involved in the large-sale restoration of natural habitats and systems to help wildlife thrive, and can include bringing back missing species such as beavers to naturally manage the landscape.”  Sounds quite nice to think of little animals, such as beavers, being cared for, but it’s not as clear cut as it first seems.  The network initially aims to catalyse and support the rewilding of at least 300,000 acres of land – an area almost the size of Greater Manchester or the North York  Moors National Park within three years.  Rewilding Britain, a charity, has presently over £1 million.

According to their accounts, Rewilding Britain, was “launched five years ago, rewilding was widely considered by some to be a toxic word and provoked a highly polarised debate across Britain.  Government departments would not countenance a role for rewilding in future land management.”

Enter one, Carrie Symonds.  Now they state that rewilding is becoming mainstream and that due to Covid-19 as well as climate change emergency and extinction crisis, they will be critical in determining how Britain sets in motion actions that will shape the coming decades.  They go on to say, “The imminent Agriculture Bill and Environment Bill in Westminster provide real opportunities for rewilding”.  Under their ‘key achievements’ they mention that one active project, ‘Summit2Sea’ is now operating, and that they were instrumental in making ‘Summit2Sea’ in Wales a reality – a further one in England and two in Southern Scotland are in development and further projects across Britain.

Rewilding Britain has now started a ‘Rewilding Network’ bringing together different organisations of a similar stance as they feel they are now gaining momentum. Last year, Rewilding Britain held key meetings with Mr. Michael Gove  and his team and other MPs and took part in House of Commons workshops on the future of land management, helping to shape their thinking and thus to influence government policy.

Isn’t it handy knowing someone close and high up in Parliament!

Farmers, more recently in Wales vigorously oppose the contentious strategy.  Mr. Juniper and Miss Symonds both called for farmers to be removed from the tracts of the Green Belt, allowing it to return to nature.  Zac Goldsmith, is also close to Carrie Symonds, and co-founded the charity, Rewilding Britain, which lobbies politicians and helps run a number of rewilding schemes.  Ben Goldsmith caused anger among farmers by saying ‘overgrazing’ by upland sheep farmers was responsible for the devastating floods suffered in South Wales.  What do the Metropolitan Elite understand about farming, when farmers have cultivated the land for generations?

A hugely divisive figure in rural circles, Mr. George Monbiot, a director of the Tinkers Bubble Land Ltd., expressed a desire to see most livestock farming come to an end.  Tinkers Bubble Land Ltd has recently become a Community Benefit Society, http://www.tinkersbubble.org/.
This ‘Benefit Society’ pays for ‘eco warriors’ to live in a small woodland community and ‘live off the land’;
living off 28 acres of woodland and enjoying ‘fresh road kill’ as well as game and an orchard etc.

Farmers have pointed out that the entire Lake District landscape of dry stone walls and majestic hillsides which draws millions of visitors each year and is loved by the British public, was entirely shaped by sheep farming.  In the uplands, many of them devote considerable energy to planting trees and protecting habitats on their properties.  Will Rawling, the former chairman of Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association, reckons Monbiot has caused ‘more damage to farmer-conservationist relations than anyone in the last 30 years’.

However, it would appear that Miss. Symonds has outraged the Welsh and Welsh farmers being part of a campaigning group, Rewilding Britain, a charity.  It is said that many small holdings are being snapped up as they are cheaper for those in London and are being left to ‘run wild’. 

We spoke with a very angry local farmer in Wales, who said that ‘these Metropolitan Elites’ are ‘coming down here and buying up our farms and small holdings at cheap prices to them, and by doing so, pushing locals out of the chance of starting local farms and small holdings, to then basically leave them unattended to go wild.  This affects not only neighbouring farmers but the natural habitat.

They also state they wish to ‘rewild the sea’ but how that is envisaged I do not know, but I am sure fishermen throughout the U.K., be interested.

A few recent media articles on Miss Symonds stated:

Take the new Press Secretary, Allegra Stratton.  Mr. Cain had wanted to choose another candidate, but Boris was over head saying “I am giving the job to Allegra. I’ve got to do this because if I don’t, Carrie will go f**** crackers about it.”

Even in a Daily Mail article, it stated “when ministers and officials are on the phone to Mr Johnson, they sometimes hear Miss Symonds in the background.”

“You can hear her prompting him, saying, “Tell him or her to do this or that,” chivvying him,” said one. “It is often about her favourite issues, like the environment – or who she thinks is or isn’t loyal to him. A PM’s partner has a right to express a view.” “But if they are listening in and contributing when the PM is talking confidentially to ministers, it would be disconcerting.”

In August 2019, she made her first public appearance since entering no 10 and addressed what she called ‘gigantic’ climate crisis.

In January, 2020, Symonds received briefs from animal rights activists just before the government came to pull a planned cull on badgers.  The NFU, farmers association, asserted that this meeting and Symonds’ influence played a key role in the government ignoring scientific advice in favour of retaining the cull.

As Electors of the United Kingdom, and the voice of democracy, perhaps it’s time we came together as a ‘Lobbying Group’ in our own right; after all, don’t you want a say in what happens to your country?