Ministers have reportedly seen off a bill that reports suggest, would have made the UK’s climate and environment targets legally binding, after promising Labour backbenchers that they would have input into environmental legislation.
The deal avoids an internal row over the bill, which was introduced by the Liberal Democrat MP Roz Savage but had support from dozens of Labour MPs. Before Friday’s debate on the legislation, ministers insisted on the removal of clauses that would have required the UK to meet the targets it agreed to at Cop and other international summits. A Labour source said the bill as it stood would have forced the government to renegotiate its international climate change agreements.
At one point it was suggested that Labour MPs who voted for the bill would lose the whip, but a deal was struck late on Thursday and the bill’s Lib Dem and Labour sponsors agreed there would be no vote.
There is consternation among some in the Labour party about the chancellor Rachel Reeves’s recent comments that she would prioritise economic growth over net zero, with one Labour MP saying during the debate that “there is no growth on a dead planet”.
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Supporters of the bill told the Guardian that Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, had made concessions to Labour backbenchers. These included making a statement on government progress towards international climate and nature targets within six months, a consultation with the bill’s supporters about forthcoming environmental legislation, and more meetings between Miliband and MPs who are concerned about the climate crisis.
The government came under fire from nature and climate groups this week after it was reported Reeves plans to announce the expansion of Heathrow and other airports, and Keir Starmer announced he would make it more difficult for campaigners to hold up developments for nature protection reasons.
Savage told the Commons on Friday that she had had “some fruitful conversations” with ministers but there was no “urgency of delivery” in the government on climate and nature targets.
Mary Creagh, the nature minister, said she agreed with putting in place “measurable, specific, time-bound targets with clear government plans to underpin them in order to achieve them”.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
