At present the population of the country is still locked down, and the United Kingdom Parliament is for the time being reduced to a half-empty echo chamber. It is against that background that the UK Government proposes to introduce a contact tracing app, and, apparently, to opt for the centralised version which carries greater risks from state surveillance.
UK AND GERMANY LEAD ONLINE PETERSBERG CLIMATE DIALOGUE ON GREEN RECOVERY
RAPID POLITICAL PROGRESS ON CALLS FOR “GREEN RECOVERY”
EVIDENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE, ENVIRONMENT & RURAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR WALES - LEGISLATIVE CONSENT MEMORANDUM RE UK ENVIRONMENT BILL
CHEMICALS STRATEGY ON HOLD – CIA STATEMENT ON REAGENTS, BREXIT
DEFRA announced in April that the regular UK Chemical Stakeholders Forum meeting schedule for 24th June would be postponed, and that current work on the country’s Chemical Strategy would be suspended, as relevant staff were being moved to support priority work on Covid -19, on which of course everyone will wish them well.
CORONAVIRUS ACT 2020 receives Royal Assent 25 March 2020
348 pages of emergency legislation, can be found at www.legislation.gov.uk, giving executive government huge powers to address most aspects of the pandemic, from health controls to financial support, comparable to wartime measures.
ENVIRONMENTAL PRINCIPLES AND GOVERNANCE IN WALES
UK TO WITHDRAW FROM EUROPEAN AVIATION SAFETY AGENCY
ENVIRONMENT BILL
AGRICULTURE BILL
The re-introduced Agriculture Bill for the 2020 session of Parliament aims to enable the UK, or specifically England, on withdrawal from the Common Agricultural Policy on Brexit, to enact its own system of direct payments, replacing EU subsidies with payments of “public money for public goods”: such as environmental or animal welfare improvements.
FISHERIES BILL
The Fisheries Bill re-introduced to Parliament in 2020 aims to enable the UK to take powers to operate as an independent coastal state after Brexit; to withdraw from the Common Fisheries Policy, and to control access, by licensing external vessels, to UK fisheries within the UK’s 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone.