Crucial environmental legislation must not be sidelined or abandoned amid the distraction of the Tory leadership race, campaigners have warned.
Ministers openly admit they do not know what is happening with much of the legislation, but those who remain in government are working with skeleton teams to get the bills into shape for passage.
Two ministers from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have left so far, Rebecca Pow and Jo Churchill, both of whom worked on environmental legislation making its way through Parliament.
Churchill resigned on Wednesday, but on Thursday she was due to sit in committees on a gene-editing bill that would liberalize rules around genetic modification for crops and potentially livestock. The Guardian was told this had already been passed on to minister Victoria Prentice, who has not resigned.
Prentice says she believes it is her duty to stay in government and pass bills rather than leave. Sources close to her say others at Defra are “working flat out” because “the environment cannot wait until October”, when Boris Johnson’s allies have suggested he should remain prime minister until.
Bills experts are particularly worried about include the Environmental Land Management scheme, which has faced criticism from the Tories on the right, as well as Labor and the Lib Dems. This legislation will reward farmers for conservation and Defra sources say net zero will not be reached without this new subsidy system.
Other, more recent bills under threat include the Highly Protected Marine Areas consultation, which would ban all fishing in some fragile ecosystems in England’s seas. This work was within Pow’s remit and is only in the consultation phase. It is not popular with many in the fishing industry and may be discarded.
Other departments are also in turmoil. After Michael Gove was sacked as secretary, he was replaced by Greg Clarke. Clarke is now tasked with making a decision on the proposed Whitehaven coal mine in Cumbria, but has not worked in the department for years. On Thursday, the government also announced it was delaying for a second time a decision on whether to approve the £20bn Sizewell C nuclear power station in Suffolk.
The Equalization Bill is also coming soon and campaigners say the legislation contains a number of threats to the ability of communities to demand higher environmental protection and standards in the planning system, replaces key environmental rules and fails to bring plans into line with legislation in the field of climate.
The finance ministry, along with its new chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, must decide whether to proceed with windfall taxes on oil and gas companies. A decision on that is due next week, and while it’s a popular measure among voters, it’s unclear whether Zahawi will move forward with it and remove a loophole that would have provided tax breaks for new oil and gas.
It may also take some time for a government response to the fracking review. The British Geological Survey has submitted its report on the safety and feasibility of fracking to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), but the results will not be seen until the government responds to it, which BEIS sources say they have not I know when that will happen.
BEIS will also need to tackle the cost of living and energy crises, with insulation measures and direct support for the poorest households the most urgent priority. The Energy Security Bill also comes with an opportunity to overhaul the energy market so that low-cost renewable electricity reaches consumers.
The president of the cops, Alok Sharma, has not stepped down, but he is drawing on the talent of a severely depleted cabinet and a government in disarray. The UK still holds the chairmanship until Cop27 in November and the government has yet to decide on the official emissions reduction pledges to be made.
Sign up for First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every weekday morning at 7am BST
Moreover, a decision on a judicial review of the net zero strategy is expected this month. Depending on what it finds, it may add even more work to the inboxes of the remaining environment team.
Greenpeace’s UK policy director, Doug Parr, said: “No matter how dire things may look in Westminster right now when it comes to the climate crisis, things risk getting a lot worse without immediate action. However, delays in deciding whether or not to divest coal and build a new mine or waste countless amounts of time and money on a new nuclear power plant, which will only distract from the real energy solutions, could be seen as positive if were set to get the green light, as rumors suggest.
“This parliamentary reshuffle must deliver a new Prime Minister who will take bolder action on climate and nature. They need to invest in real solutions like cheap, clean, own renewables and fixing the huge number of cold, damp homes that waste energy. If not, we may lose even more time and end up in a much worse position than we are now.”
Add Comment