I do not know the noble Lord’s record on the environment; I am sure he will have other opportunities to tell noble Lords about it. But certainly, if he cares about the environment, this is exactly the place we should deal with it, and that is exactly why noble Lords from around the House are so passionate about the need to pursue this amendment. I hope that the noble Lord will read our amendment and see the sense of it.
4.30 pm
On Report, the Minister promised a consultation document and finally, five days ago, after much chasing, we received a copy. There were all sorts of stories in the press about why it was delayed, and now we have seen it we can kind of understand why. This version is a pale imitation of what we had been led to believe the document would say. For whatever reason, it has clearly been watered down; I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Deben, who said that it has been written by two hands. As noble Lords said, we were promised a world-leading environmental watchdog and enhanced environmental standards after Brexit. However, this document gives the environment less protection and provides for a watchdog with fewer powers. This is why environmentalists are so disappointed, and why our amendment is so important.
To recap on the arguments, first, the document makes the case for environmental principles to be found in one place. However, it does not specify what they should be and certainly does not echo the EU principles that we have set out in our amendment, and neither does it provide for them to be contained in primary legislation. These principles matter because they impact, for example, on GMOs, pesticides, the habitat, waste regulation and water purity. This is why we have set them out clearly in our amendment.
Secondly, the document makes it clear that the application of environmental principles would be subservient to other government policy priorities. For example, new housing is described as more important than the environment. It goes on to portray the environment as the enemy of growth and development rather than complementary to it—in contrast to the Government’s own 25-year environment plan, which recognises the interrelationship between growth and the environment.
Thirdly, the proposed environmental watchdog is a toothless imitation of the powers currently exercised by the European Commission to intervene and compel. Under this document, the proposed watchdog will advise, assess progress and lay reports before Parliament—all worthy objectives but not a substitute for the current enforcement mechanisms. It will have a relationship only with central government and not with other public bodies, and it will not have a remit to engage with people and communities, thus failing to empower people and putting the very principle of access to justice at grave risk of being abandoned. It will not even have a role in receiving complaints from the public.
Instead, great play is made in the document of it being the role of Parliament, including Select Committees, to hold the Executive to account—a point echoed by the noble Baroness, Lady Byford. But of course that is what we have now, and it would be without any of the additional benefits of oversight from Europe. It is that additional oversight we are now seeking to replace in UK law.