Big Issue founder Lord John Bird speaks at a roundtable event in the House of Lords. Image: Andy Parsons. Taken from The Big Issue.
On the 4th February 2022 The Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill passed its final reading in the House of Lords. Lord Bird led the third and final reading of the Bill, which will now move to the House of Commons co-sponsored by Simon Fell MP, bringing it a step closer towards becoming a law.
The Bill’s main goal is to ensure that public bodies make decisions that take into consideration future generations. This can be achieved by putting a legal obligation on long-term thinking at the centre of UK policymaking. The Bill, inspired by the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, was first introduced by Lord Bird on the 8th January 2020 and was backed by the cross-party support of over 70 MPs. The Bill has been promoted by the #Todayfortomorrow campaign and has been covered by a number of media reports. On the13th February 2022 Radio 4 broadcasted “Why worry about future generations?”, an analysis featuring the Bill presented by the philosopher David Edmonds.
In the third reading, Lord Bird said: “I have always started from the premise that what is important is finding preventive methods, methodologies and systems that allow us to intervene before the problem presents itself. As we always seem to be living and treading on the mistakes of the past—past interventions, past actions, past acts and past activities—it is important that we look again at how we can prevent the future from being a poor version of the present and the past.”
He added: “Put simply, this bill would ensure we are always investing in the fence at the top of the cliff rather than the ambulance at the bottom.”
FDSD continues to support Lord Bird and the Big Issue in this endeavour. FDSD helped draft the Bill and continues to work with the campaign promoting the Bill.
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For further information, visit the Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill official Parliament page.
