Post-Brexit green watchdog must have teeth, MPs demand

A new environmental watchdog with powers to hold the government to account must be set up after Brexit to ensure protections are kept in place, an influential group of MPs has said.

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The environmental audit committee (EAC) on Tuesday also called for targets on air, water, soil, biodiversity and other issues to be legally binding and subject to five-yearly reports, in a similar way to the carbon budgets produced by the Committee on Climate Change under the 2008 Climate Change Act.

The MPs said oversight of these targets would need an Environmental Enforcement and Audit Office modelled on the National Audit Office, which has responsibility for gauging the impacts of government legislation and whether policies are meeting the aims set out by ministers.

Mary Creagh, chair of the EAC, said the government had recently been referred to the EU’s highest court for failing to tackle illegal levels of air pollution, and urged ministers to create a new body holding equivalent authority.

“If we want a world-leading environment we need a world-leading environmental watchdog,” she said. “We want an act that sets legally binding targets and creates a new office to measure progress and enforce this law. The government needs to set out detailed delivery and funding proposals and departments across Whitehall need to commit to its ambitions, rather than trying to water them down behind the scenes.”

When the UK leaves the EU, the powers held by the European commission and European court of justice to ensure the UK meets EU targets on factors such as air pollution and water quality will expire, and currently there is nothing within the UK government to replace them.

Michael Gove, the environment secretary, has promised a new watchdog as part of a forthcoming environment bill, and Theresa May has endorsed a 25-year environment plan for the UK, but details of both are still vague. One proposed specification for a new oversight body suggested it would not have statutory powers to hold ministers to account, for instance through judicial review, but would be merely advisory, to the ire of campaigners.

Kierra Box, Brexit campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said the government must stop “dithering” on the issue. “Brexit poses a massive threat to the safeguards that protect our wildlife and environment,” she said, “especially if we fail to reach a deal on the UK’s departure. If ministers want a green Brexit they must introduce an ambitious act with clear goals for keeping their pledge to leave our environment in a better state than they found it, along with a watchdog with sharp teeth to ensure environmental laws are enforced.”

Nick Molho, executive director of the Aldersgate Group of green businesses, said enshrining the 25-year environment plan in law would aid the economy by providing certainty to companies.

“Contrary to a common misconception,” he said, “an ambitious, well-designed and properly enforced environmental regulatory framework will deliver significant economic benefits by supporting investment in more innovative and efficient business practices, increasing private sector investment to improve the state of the natural environment and providing a level playing field for businesses across the economy.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “We are bringing forward the first environment bill in over 20 years, and are now consulting on a new world-leading body to hold government to account on environmental standards.”