Harmonious Principles and Clutters of Expedients: The Environment White Paper

Abstract

This paper assesses the degree to which the British Government's recent Environment White Paper has changed the country's energy and environmental policies. It is concluded that the process by which the White Paper was produced may be of greater long term significance than the document itself. There has recently been a considerable change in the rhetoric of environmental policy and environmental issues are now taken seriously across all Whitehall departments. However, potential conflicts between environmental objectives and energy issues, notably electricity privatisation, mean that it has been difficult for the Government to establish a proactive environmental policy. Consequently, many challenges remain to be faced during the 1990s.