When Amazon announced a £380m investment in X-energy’s advanced Small Modular Reactor last month, it became clear big tech companies now view nuclear power as a leading solution for their growing energy needs. The UK must take note, writes Tom Greatrex, CEO of the Nuclear Industry Association.

On March 2 2022, delegates to the UN environment assembly adopted an ambitious resolution to develop the text of a new treaty by the end of 2024 to end plastic pollution. With 24 days of formal negotiation between almost 200 countries completed, spread over meetings in Peru, France, Kenya and Canada, the fifth and final negotiation meeting is about to take place in Busan, South Korea. This is crunch time. Agreement must be found or the opportunity to take global action to tackle plastic pollution might be lost.

The Government is holding firm on changes to agricultural relief despite backlash from farmers facing inheritance tax for the first time.

As we face the intertwined challenges of tackling climate change and securing our future energy supply, the urgent need for a sustainable, resilient energy transition has never been clearer.

The Green Party has urged the government to take “another look” at its plans to introduce inheritance tax on farm land, as farmers prepare protests in the capital this week against the changes.

For 14 years, rural communities were failed by the Conservatives. As the MP for England’s largest rural constituency of Hexham, I have spoken to countless constituents about their frustrations about business, farming, the economy, jobs, housing and, particularly, on health.

Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, Toby Perkins, has said that money will be the biggest challenge for governments in the COP29 climate summit, at a time when there are “huge alternative uses for public money”.

The Scottish Parliament’s Gardening and Horticulture Cross-Party Group, which brings together industry professionals and Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), hosted Rural Affairs Minister Jim Fairlie MSP on Wednesday evening for an engaging discussion on the sector's opportunities and challenges.

Following the success of last year’s Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) drop-in showcase in Parliament, the HTA has once again presented ‘Plants in Parliament’. Around 60 MPs, Peers, and staff had the chance to engage with the HTA and industry representatives and hear directly about the impact of key policies, from border operations to tax changes, and how these are hitting hard-working, hard-pressed horticultural businesses, in a challenging year. The timing was particularly pertinent just a few days following the Budget and a day ahead of further Parliamentary debates on peat-free horticulture.

Fran Barnes, Chief Executive of the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA), responds to the outcome of Sarah Dyke MP's Ten-Minute Rule Motion on the prohibition of the sale of peat.

The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) calls on government to harness UK’s environmental horticulture industry for growth

The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) continues to drive its campaign against retail crime within the garden centre sector, engaging with both the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Sussex and Business and Retail Crime Lead for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, Katy Bourne and the Thames Valley PCC Matthew Barber, this month. Retail crime has both a financial and social impact on garden centres, which collectively suffer millions in losses each year. In 2022, it was estimated that theft accounted for a £16 million loss in turnover for HTA member garden centres.

Throughout its first three months in office, the new Government has focused on its “five missions for national renewal”, which were a key plank of Labour’s general election campaign.

Next week, Rachel Reeves has the chance to accelerate the Government’s delivery of two of those missions: kickstarting economic growth, and making Britain a clean energy superpower.

After years of delay, we are pleased to see rapid progress is being made to deliver the UK’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), with the new government committed to the scheme going live by October 2027.

For too long, the United Kingdom has relied on others for energy. But under this government we are on the verge of an energy revolution, charging forward with renewables.

Is a trawler’s worth of fish getting in the way of our nuclear ambitions? Tali Fraser investigates something fishy going on around Hinkley Point C

With a legally binding global treaty to address plastic pollution on the horizon, what are the potential risks and opportunities for the UK? PoliticsHome sat down with Professor Steve Fletcher, Director of the Revolution Plastics Institute at the University of Portsmouth and UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) UK Plastic Pollution Agenda Setting Fellow, to learn how world-class research can position the UK as a global leader in the future of plastics.

The Labour government’s collaboration with our industry is the key ingredient for the successful delivery of the Warm Homes Plan.

Chris Luffingham, acting Chief Executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, says the time for change is now, but asks if not now, then when?

Last week, McLaren’s Nurseries in Glasgow, Scotland, hosted a visit and tour for the Agriculture Minister, Jim Fairlie MSP, at a crucial time for the professional horticulture sector.

Myrtle Dawes, CEO of the Net Zero Technology Centre, explains how her not-for-profit organisation is helping to accelerate the energy transition to net-zero through cutting-edge technology.

It is billpayers who have financed all of the capital expenditure since privatisation

By providing funding certainty and supporting an engineering workforce that can harness digital technologies to decarbonise existing and future housing stock, the government can lower energy bills, reduce carbon emissions, boost health and grow the economy.