Caroline Lucas, Green Party leader and MP for Brighton Pavilion, has warmly welcomed the Government's statement today that it will scrap the consultation on the sell-off of English forests.
Caroline Lucas said: "On behalf of the many hundreds of my constituents in Brighton Pavilion who have written to me to oppose the sell-off of our public forest estate, I welcome the Government's decision to ditch these reckless plans.
"I am also encouraged by the commitment given to me by the Secretary of State that those people who led the inspirational grassroots movement against the sell off will be included in the new panel of experts set up to consider the future of the forests.
"Now it will be vital to ensure that the panel itself operates in public."
Lucas concluded: "This major u-turn exposes the shambolic nature of the Government's policy-making - and is the inevitable consequence of ministers blindly charging ahead with ideologically driven cuts."