Environmental assurances needed to fill policy vacuum post-Brexit
2 min read
Welsh Labour MP Madeleine Moon MP writes ahead of her debate today on ‘Policies, strategies and funding for environmental protection’ in light of the EU referendum.
A lot of Parliamentary time has been spent since 23 June debating what will happen next and how the Government should proceed. One area, with the exception of work by the EFRA and Environmental Audit Committees, that has not received much attention has been environmental protection. It seemed timely to highlight this issue now as we run the very real risk of not being prepared for the consequences.
The vast majority of our legislation which protects our environment, habitats and wildlife in the UK originates in the EU; our membership has been mutually beneficial. The environment is a policy area which does not respect borders; we have gained a great deal from working with our European partners on protecting habitats, combating invasive species and prosecuting those who cause damage.
We are now facing a legal and policy vacuum which, in part due to budget cuts to local authorities and DEFRA, will be all the more difficult to fill. Little preparation prior to the referendum appears to have been done to what would happen if there was a vote to leave.
My question to the Minister therefore is essentially, post-Brexit, have we got the technical, financial and legal expertise and capacity to respond to the environmental challenge? It needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
The latest State of Nature report concluded that 10% of species in the UK are at risk from extinction and nearly 60% have declined since the 1970s. The Biodiversity Intactness Index, which assesses how damaged nature is across the world, the UK is ranked 189th out of 218 countries because the UK is already less vigilant in implementing EU environmental legislation.
The environment cannot wait years for the outcome of negotiations, we need assurances now that at a minimum existing EU environmental law will remain in place and maximum efforts are being made to ensure the vacuum is filled as soon as possible on exit.
Madeleine Moon is the Labour MP for Bridgend
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