Environment tipping points fast approaching in UK, says watchdog

From fisheries collapse to dead rivers, official body urges government to urgently turn ambition into action

Environmental tipping points are fast approaching in the UK, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has said.

Potential tipping points - where gradual decline suddenly becomes catastrophic - include loss of wildlife, fisheries collapse and dead, polluted rivers, the watchdog said. The OEP is a new official body set up after Brexit to hold the government to account. Its first report, published on Thursday, says ministers have shown ambition but that action is too slow.