Good response to MP Jamie Stone's tree-planting suggestion to mark Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
North MP Jamie Stone has been heartened by a UK government response to his call for a nationwide tree-planting project as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The Queen, who is 94, will have reigned for 70 years by February 2022 and plans are being drawn up to hold a series of events that year.
Mr Stone, the Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, urged the culture secretary Oliver Dowden to consider a project in which schoolchildren would engage in a long-term planting project to teach them about the effects of climate change.
Mr Stone felt that planting nation-specific seedlings in honour of the jubilee would also strengthen the union.
Mr Dowden called it "a very good suggestion". He added: "I’m trying to resist the temptation to reveal some of the plans we are working on. But I can say that we are looking at the idea of a Queen’s green canopy, working with DEFRA [the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs].
"So we will plant trees up and down the country."
Mr Stone said later: “Oaks, Scots pines and Irish yews can grow to a very great age – they can be around for many human generations.
"Planting them in honour of our Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at every school in the UK would be a most fitting way to celebrate our Queen’s remarkable reign and to highlight the importance of protecting our environment.
"I am delighted that my suggestion appears to have the backing of the UK government.”
