Chris Packham shares blueprint to smash far right and demands major change

Last week’s local elections saw chaos for the Labour party, who lost over 1400 English council seats. But conservationist Chris Packham believes he knows the way forward for the ailing Government - to turn their attention to the natural world . Sitting down for a chat with the Mirror , the naturalist and presenter shared a toolkit to win back voters and draw support away from the far right - and young people are the key. “We underestimate climate anxiety in youngsters,” says Chris, 65, who has presented BBC staples Springwatch and Autumnwatch since 2009. I lived through the Cold War in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. There were times when we thought someone might just press a button and a missile could wipe us all out. Thankfully no one ever pressed the button. But the climate change button has well has really been pressed. Young people are not waiting for the prospect of a missile, they’re actually looking out the window and they’re seeing the impact of it in front of them.” Chris presented The Really Wild Show from 1986 to 1995 and lives in the New Forest, Hampshire. His new book Nature is the Answer: A Toolkit for Eco-Positivity, is out now, designed to help children and families process eco-anxiety. He supports lowering the British voting age to 16. “Rather than just listening to young people, we should actually allow them to make decisions about their future because they are less risk averse,” he explains. “They’re clearer thinking, clearer speaking, and they have more skin in the game. “But more importantly than giving them a vote at a younger age, would be to say, ‘Your vote is important’. Young people didn’t get out of bed and vote against Brexit , and that was bonkers because they’re the ones that suffered most. Why didn’t they do that? Because they felt completely disenfranchised and disconnected from politics. So, we have to reconnect to those young people. They have to feel secure that when they put a cross in a box, it’s going to mean something.” Chris has been in a relationship with his long-term partner Charlotte Corney, the owner of Wildheart Animal Sanctuary on the Isle of Wright, for 17 years. He says an age cap on politicians shouldn’t be overlooked. “We need younger politicians. The planet is currently being brought to its knees by a bunch of idiots that are over 80. Why not have an age cap? Once you get to 65, you’re out. You’ve got to have someone who’s going to take over from you. It’s a balance between experience and wisdom and the capacity to actually make a difference in the correct way. If we put young people in decision making positions, of course they’ll make some mistakes, but ultimately that’s how we make progress.” Another easy win, says the environmental activist, would be to ban trail hunting, which was introduced after the Hunting Act 2004 as an alternative to hounds chasing foxes and involves using an animal-scented rag. Labour first announced a planned ban in its 2024 election manifesto. He says: “80 to 85% of the UK population want it stopped. You couldn’t get much broader support across every party. So why is there a consultation? Why are we still standing outside parliament with our megaphones? It’s nonsense. Just get on with it. It’s not going to change the world or save British wildlife. But it’s highly symbolic and reflects the way that we should respect rather than destroy our wildlife.” Another universal issue, says Chris, is the nation’s sewage crisis. Earlier this year Channel 4 docuseries Dirty Business blew the lid off the murky practices of our privatised water system. To fix it would be an easy win, says Chris. “Farmers, swimmers, surfers, wildlife nuts, anglers - there’s not a person in the UK that doesn’t want the whole issue over water sorted. Yet we still see the water companies making money, putting people’s bills up, and putting more s*** in the river. If I was Defra (the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) and the Environment Agency it would be top of my agenda.” There is time to turn things around, but Labour need to act now, says Chris. “We’ve got time before the next General Election . But unfortunately a lot of people are not taking the threat seriously enough, despite the fact that they can look across the Atlantic and see what’s happened in the United States where their ability to address climate change and the nature crisis has been significantly diminished because it’s been defunded or destroyed by the Trump administration. “If that happens here, we’re doomed. But thankfully we’re still in a position where we have a choice. When our Government does eventually get round to doing some of the things that it said it’s going to do, we should really make sure that we champion those and be very clear about the positive benefits going forward. “We just had that round of local elections. We didn’t hear anything about the environment at all. It was all of the usual issues, cost of living, immigration, etc. But the climate breakdown impacts the cost of living for every single person in the UK every day. Energy prices, the ability to heat your home or cook your food, the desperate situation that people find themselves in when they can’t afford to pay that. "And yet we see Shell and BP posting record profits on account of the war. So going forward, there are some very key, flagship or symbolic things that they could do to send a clear message to say that they actually do care about the environment.” The alarm bell has sounded on the planet, says Chris, and it’s time to act. “The call has rung out, it’s time to send the ambulance. The environment is in danger but there is hope - if there wasn’t I would do something hedonistic like open another bottle of wine and drive my car faster,” laughs Chris. Last week he celebrated the 100th birthday of his close friend, David Attenborough, who has been a long-time mentor. “‘Don’t bat on a losing wicket’, he told me,” says Chris. “The best advice he’s given me is to basically focus my energies on things where I can make a difference, and that’s probably been one of the reasons why I sort of maintain a high degree of independence when it comes to campaigning. "I remember saying to him, ‘I ought to do this’ and he said, ‘No, don’t do that. It be a waste of time. You’re going to get really really frustrated. They’re not going to do what they say they’re going to do and it will take forever. You’ll waste hours and then you’ll pull all your hair out and you’ll come back to me and say you know what a waste of time’. He was right, of course. David has never once wasted his time.” It’s advice he has passed onto step-daughter, Springwatch’s Megan McCubbin, 31, with whom he co-hosted Chris and Meg’s Wild Summer for the BBC. “She’s a real force,” says Chris proudly. “I’ve got a little frame in my house, it’s got little sort of glassy diamonds around it. And in it is a post-it note that she left on my door when she first went to work for Extinction Rebellion in 2018. It says, ‘Gone to rebel’. It’s one of my most treasured possessions. I can’t ever ever claim to have been the greatest parent but I must have been doing something right to get home and see that.” *NATURE IS THE ANSWER, A Toolkit for Eco-Positivity by Chris Packham, illustrated by Conor Nolan, is published by DK and available in all good bookshops