Well said Ian Botham: “Whitehall is turning England into a tinderbox. Defra’s response to climate change has been to sharply increase vegetation. Over the past 20 years its cuts in upland cattle and sheep grazing led to a 25 per cent increase in highly flammable grass. Another genius move has been to stop preventative burning of heather. During damp winter months these burns safely prune the dead material which is then replaced by younger plants. It is the dead heather that is combustible. And thanks to Defra we now have 74 per cent more of it. The winter burns used to create firebreaks. Now we have huge expanses of continuous, ageing vegetation. The result is disaster after disaster. When Downing Street starts asking questions of Defra, jaws will drop. Why did it further restrict winter burns despite the National Fire Chiefs Council warning this risked the lives of "firefighters and the public"? How come it also ignored the pleading of top wildfire scientists not to go ahead? In 2007, officials said that stopping winter burns would produce "a much increased risk" of wildfires. Which is exactly what we are getting. Rewilded land going up in smoke. Other countries have learnt the hard way. Australia and California tried suppressing the prescribed burns that indigenous people had used for tens of thousands of years. By some calculations, dozens died before their governments saw sense. What will it take for ours to wake up? This is a crisis caused by years of Whitehall grabbing power away from the countryside.”