Lord Heseltine has released a new report “No Stone Unturned”, which shows that after 46 years in politics, he is still ready to challenge received wisdom and speak with an independent voice.
It is worth recalling that he is a self-made millionaire – he built from scratch one of the United Kingdom’s biggest magazine publishers, Haymarket & rose to become deputy prime minister in 1995 via appointments as the junior Minister for the Department for the Environment (the fore runner to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: DEFRA) in the 1970’s. He has not been without his own independent views: he clashed with Margaret Thatcher over (among many things) industrial policy and opposition to Europe, upset the generals over defence cuts, and appalled the Left with a strident campaign against the CND anti-nuclear group.
No Stone Unturned echoes Lord Heseltine’s campaigns in the 1980s for devolving power from Whitehall and re-invigorating the great industrial cities, which again emphasises the importance of aligning political will with local action in the cause of economic regeneration. There are many interactions between business and growth with the environment and these are clear articulated in the report including highlighting the need for consistent policies between the roles of the Environment Agency and the Health & Safety Executive.
The original BBC article can be found at http://bbc.in/Rsw2RO and a copy of his new report: No Stone Unturned can be found at http://bit.ly/W5nNzk