Draft Environment (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019
Debate between Iain Stewart and Thérèse Coffey(5 years, 3 months ago)
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Dr Thérèse Coffey
I thank the hon. Lady for setting out those points and also for acknowledging that we are doing what it says on the tin—not quite Ronseal-style, but she gets my drift.
I recognise the concerns that many hon. Members have about secondary legislation potentially being a back door for significant changes. I assure the hon. Lady that, through the transparency statements we sign, I have to make sure that I am in line with the ministerial code. The statement that I make to Parliament must be absolutely accurate. I give her the assurance that that is the case, and I hope that all my fellow Ministers in Government will do so. We have somebody here from the Whips Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North—
Dr Coffey
My apology. It is important; my hon. Friend is right—and he can take back the message that the hon. Lady has shared with us today.
In terms of access to environmental justice, we absolutely honour the Aarhus convention and will continue to do so. We see that already in existing procedures with our own UK courts today. I hope that the hon. Lady will be assured by what we have laid out in our draft clauses, which are out for pre-legislative scrutiny, with regard to environmental governance in the future.
As for how the UK and devolved Governments will work together to ensure that we have a coherent approach to environmental standards, it is the case that we have worked together as a group of four nations. At times it has been challenging to get agreement to every part of an SI, and it is perhaps one reason why it takes a bit longer than people would like. We have also respected the parliamentary processes in the other nations, making sure that appropriate scrutiny can be undertaken, but it is our intention to work towards a common framework for a number of different regulations. Nevertheless, I make the point that we absolutely respect the devolved approach, and where other nations’ Governments want to do something different, then we will respect that. Having said that, my understanding and experience of Ministers from the other Governments is that there is a lot of common ground and that we wish that to continue in order to have an improved environment.
Question put and agreed to.