Wildlife campaigners and celebrities are calling for the Government to support efforts to bring in a promised ban on sales of peat for gardeners.
A Private Members’ Bill to ban the sale of horticultural peat will be introduced to the House of Commons by former environment secretary Theresa Villiers, using a 10-minute rule motion.
Conservationists are urging MPs to support the bill and for the Government to use it as a “last chance” to deliver on the promise made two years ago to ban the sale of peat compost and peat-containing products in England from 2024.
Environmental campaigners have long called for stricter laws to restore peatlands, which are the UK’s largest carbon sink.
As well as carbon capture and storage, peatlands provide habitat to some of the UK’s most threatened wildlife, and also filter water and prevent flooding downstream, but draining, burning, and harvesting for compost, means only 13% are in a near-perfect state.
The Government pledged in 2022 that the sale of peat for private gardens and allotments would be banned by the end of this Parliament in 2024, but sales remain legal, which conservationists say contributes to the destruction of peatland habitats in the UK and across Europe.
A public consultation, which received 5,000 responses, found 95% of people supported the ban.
Actress Alison Steadman, an ambassador for The Wildlife Trusts, said: “The Government is running out of time to fulfil its promise to ban the sale of peat to gardeners by the end of this parliament.