Politics

Wildfire no longer stops at the moor. Nearly 50,000 London homes sit in the danger zone — and Britain hasn't built, planned or insured for it.

No one is in charge of wildfire in England. The fire services and the Moorland Association agree on the fix: a funded, cross-government national strategy.

A single 2025 wildfire destroyed 80% of a managed moor and centuries of peat — evidence to Parliament on what wildfire costs nature, and why the fix is stalled.

MPs clashed over controlled burning and wildfire risk in the Commons on 13 July. What was said about moorland fuel loads, and where the real disagreement lies.

Burning is restricted to protect carbon — but peatland wildfires cause ~90% of the UK's fire emissions, while managed burns leave the peat unburned.

MA asks the EFRA Committee to examine whether Natural England can prove its NEER155 peatland burning evidence review underwent rigorous peer review.

The chairman of the EFRA Committee has written to Defra, asking how it is addressing concerns about managed burning licences and the evidence base behind the 2025 burning regulations.

The Moorland Association has asked the ICO to review Natural England's refusal to release QA records behind its blanket bog conservation document.

Natural England and Defra still can't show the audit trail behind NEER155's “rigorous peer review” claim — and why that matters for moorland management.

Gamekeepers' families, including a 12-year-old, told Parliament's wildfire inquiry the human cost of restricting moorland management. Their evidence, in full.

MPs heard evidence that cutting wildfire risk means managing upland fuel loads — through prescribed burning, cutting and grazing — not rewetting alone.

Are Natural England's policies forcing farmers off the land? Read our letter to The Telegraph defending active management and the future of working moorlands.