Alok Sharma MP, formerly Secretary of State for International Development, was appointed Secretary of State for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy, and also President of COP 26, on 13 February 2020.
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.
COP 26 AND EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH
ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS AFTER BREXIT?
CLIMATE CHANGE LEGISLATION WORKSHOPS: FAR EAST
UK CHEMICALS STAKEHOLDER FORUM
WYESIDE CONSULTING REPORTS
POLICY FORUM FOR WALES KEYNOTE SEMINAR – ENERGY POLICY IN WALES
NET ZERO, AND COP 26
WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE CHEMICAL STANDARDS AT RISK FROM ENVIRONMENT BILL
The CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, Dr Richard Benwell (until recently Special Adviser to Defra Secretary of State Michael Gove, and currently Liberal Democrat candidate for Wantage), has warned that the Environment Bill contains discretionary powers for the Secretary of State to vary, water down or even remove long established chemical standards for controlled waters set by the Water Framework Directive.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION UK CONFERENCE, BIRMINGHAM, 13 NOVEMBER 2019
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR WALES COMMITTEE REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE POST BREXIT
On 2 October 2019, the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee of the National Assembly for Wales published a report on ‘Environmental principles and governance post-Brexit’, containing very important recommendations to the Welsh Government for the way in which environmental laws and principles should be enacted, applied and enforced in Wales post Brexit.