UK Parliament / Open data

Environmental Protection and Green Growth

Opposition day on Wednesday, 26 October 2011, in the House of Commons, led by Mary Creagh. The answering member was Lord Benyon.
Unallotted opposition day debate (part two). Closure motion. Agreed to on question. Main question negatived on division (222 to 302).
Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
534 c382-433 
Session
2010-12
Department
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Procedure
Closure motions
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Lord Benyon | 534 c400 (Link to this contribution) I will give way, but then I want to make some progress.
Gavin Shuker | 534 c400 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is extremely generous in allowing interventions. I was initially trying to be well beha...

Show all contributions (181)
Lord Benyon | 534 c400 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to my hon. Friend, and I hope that Labour Members were listening to what he said....
Lord Benyon | 534 c400 (Link to this contribution) I urge the hon. Gentleman, whom I respect on this subject, to look at exactly what the Chancellor is...
Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park | 534 c400 (Link to this contribution) Learning how to value ecosystems is a prerequisite for tackling the loss of biodiversity and the env...
Lord Benyon | 534 c400 (Link to this contribution) I have promised my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith), but if he will forgive ...
Barry Sheerman | 534 c400 (Link to this contribution) The Minister will know that there are Members of all parties who care very much about the environmen...
Lord Benyon | 534 c400 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is talking about our nature improvement areas, and I would be happy to talk furth...
Lord Benyon | 534 c401 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but I really must make some progress. We will shortly publish our White Paper on water,...
Paul Flynn | 534 c401 (Link to this contribution) It is a question that involves all the devolved Assemblies, especially the Welsh Assembly, where all...
Lord Benyon | 534 c401-2 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that I simply do not recognise that situation. We met Ministers from the devolved Assemb...
Lord Benyon | 534 c401 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman will forgive me, I will make a bit of progress. Many other Members wish to spe...
David Wright | 534 c402 (Link to this contribution) What discussions has the Minister had with Department for Communities and Local Government Ministers...
Lord Benyon | 534 c402 (Link to this contribution) I have already said that we will address that in the near future in the water White Paper. We are de...
Lord Soames of Fletching | 534 c402 (Link to this contribution) I apologise to the House and to the Minister for asking to intervene when I have only just arrived. ...
Speaker | 534 c402 (Link to this contribution) Order. The right hon. Gentleman has only just arrived, but it is up to the Minister to give way if h...
Ian Swales | 534 c403 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister intend to look at building regulations, on which the UK is decades behind some oth...
Lord Benyon | 534 c403 (Link to this contribution) We are consulting DCLG colleagues on that and a variety of different issues. I recently visited the ...
Lord Benyon | 534 c403 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. We are determined to address this issue from both ends of the...
Graham Stuart | 534 c403 (Link to this contribution) On the green investment bank, may I point out that the largest manufacturing area outside London is ...
Lord Benyon | 534 c403-4 (Link to this contribution) My experience in this House is that Yorkshire MPs believe that life starts and finishes in Yorkshire...
Joan Ruddock | 534 c404 (Link to this contribution) May I make a suggestion to the Minister? He will know that the Secretary of State for Communities an...
Speaker | 534 c405 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before I call the next speaker, may I say that we are very short on time and I am going to in...
Lord Benyon | 534 c404-5 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady is right to say that there are huge benefits if we get this right. We are workin...
Sheila Gilmore | 534 c405-6 (Link to this contribution) We have heard a lot of words in the past 35 minutes, but, frankly, not a lot of substance. Being gre...
Mary Creagh | 534 c406 (Link to this contribution) I saw an interesting article a couple of weeks ago in Farmers Guardian or Farmers Weekly, which I re...
Rory Stewart | 534 c406-7 (Link to this contribution) I shall take up that point, as it illustrates the four aspects that I identified. What we need and w...
Graham Stuart | 534 c407 (Link to this contribution) There is another problem—the direct and, I suggest, deliberate skewing of Government funding to urba...
Rory Stewart | 534 c407-8 (Link to this contribution) I agree, but to continue to develop the point, it is not simply a matter of cash. The point is creat...
Nicholas Dakin | 534 c408 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased that the hon. Member for Penrith and The Border (Rory Stewart) has drawn attention to t...
Huw Irranca-Davies | 534 c423-7 (Link to this contribution) This has been a very good debate in which Members in all parts of the House have made powerful and p...
Speaker | 534 c423 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Lady's time is up.
Speaker | 534 c428 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am sorry to interrupt the Minister, but there is far too much noise in the Chamber, includi...
Lord Benyon | 534 c428 (Link to this contribution) I shall not give way because the hon. Gentleman has had his time. [Interruption.] When we consider ...
Lord Benyon | 534 c428-9 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. There have been some excellent initiatives all around the country,...
Lord Benyon | 534 c427 (Link to this contribution) With the leave of the House, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will address the House again at the conclusion ...
Lord Benyon | 534 c427-8 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not give way. We welcome the ““Nature Check”” report. It is very important that the orga...
Lord Benyon | 534 c429 (Link to this contribution) I do not have time—I apologise. My hon. Friend the Member for Warrington South (David Mowat) made a...
Ben Gummer | 534 c411 (Link to this contribution) Ipswich, which until May was run by a coalition between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives,...
Therese Coffey | 534 c411 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is incorrect. My point is that aspirational targets may be set by the Government,...
Nigel Adams | 534 c411 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend believe that the Labour party's bin taxes would have encouraged recycling?
Therese Coffey | 534 c411 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend and neighbour is absolutely right. I will continue with the Top Trumps challenge, and...
Graham Stuart | 534 c409 (Link to this contribution) I know that beneath the new Whip's bluster there is a decent, honourable and reasonable person. One ...
Nicholas Dakin | 534 c409-10 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman, for whom I have great regard. He has added ““excoriate”” to ““prescient”...
Therese Coffey | 534 c410 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to speak in this debate and vigorously to oppose this motion. I am delighted ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 534 c411 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady claims that Waveney is a Tory area. At the moment it has a Conservative MP, but it had...
Kelvin Hopkins | 534 c408 (Link to this contribution) I very much support the idea of a supermarket ombudsman. Would the ombudsman also look at how superm...
Nicholas Dakin | 534 c408-9 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. Those are the concerns that a Government who are attempting...
Roger Williams | 534 c414 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point about having a cross-party approach to the environment. In t...
Andrew George | 534 c414 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the hon. Member for North West Durham (Pat Glass) on her contribution. I also congrat...
Pat Glass | 534 c413-4 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree. We need a proper strategy on recycling and waste, and we need to stop obsessing ...
Pat Glass | 534 c413 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree with that, but it ultimately comes down to us. I do not want weekly bin collectio...
Caroline Lucas | 534 c413 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree that although recycling is important, it is third on the so-called waste hi...
Pat Glass | 534 c412-3 (Link to this contribution) I want to focus on three aspects of the motion: the sell-off of forests, which, despite the Governme...
Therese Coffey | 534 c413 (Link to this contribution) I understand that the hon. Lady and I cannot control the recycling rates of our councils, but it see...
Sheila Gilmore | 534 c411 (Link to this contribution) I would like the hon. Lady to put on record the fact that Edinburgh council has been run by a Libera...
Therese Coffey | 534 c411-2 (Link to this contribution) I said that there were SNP-Liberal Democrat coalitions, as is the case with East Lothian council. M...
Therese Coffey | 534 c411 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. He makes a good point, and the answer is absolutely not...
Fiona O'Donnell | 534 c418 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman talks about joined-up government, but the Government's obsession with the red tap...
Andrew George | 534 c414-5 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely, and I am really grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point. It takes me on to anot...
Andrew George | 534 c415 (Link to this contribution) No, and I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for agreeing with me on the matter. Certainly it is...
Jim Shannon | 534 c415 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Andrew George | 534 c415 (Link to this contribution) I do not think I will get any injury time, but I will give way.
Jim Shannon | 534 c415 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman and apologise for that. Everyone is committed to recycling, but recycling...
Andrew George | 534 c415-6 (Link to this contribution) I see recycling as being part of the green economy, in which jobs are created and there is a massive...
Geraint Davies | 534 c416-7 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to contribute to this debate as a former chair of Flood Risk Management Wales—for t...
Kerry McCarthy | 534 c422-3 (Link to this contribution) I want to start by taking issue with a couple of Members who said that we should not get political a...
Speaker | 534 c419 (Link to this contribution) Order. I call Caroline Lucas.
Caroline Lucas | 534 c419-20 (Link to this contribution) I am gratified by the extent to which successive Governments have sought to brand themselves as gree...
Speaker | 534 c419 (Link to this contribution) Order. Unfortunately the clock was not going down as the hon. Gentleman was speaking, so he has had ...
Neil Carmichael | 534 c419 (Link to this contribution) I want to draw the House's attention to the fantastic work that Water21 is doing to promote flood at...
Neil Parish | 534 c421-2 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making some excellent points. The green investment bank, to the tune of nearly £3 ...
David Mowat | 534 c422 (Link to this contribution) I agree. I did not mention the carbon floor price. Having sat through the debate, it remains unclea...
David Mowat | 534 c421 (Link to this contribution) I should like to associate myself with the comment of my hon. Friend the Member for St Ives (Andrew ...
Neil Carmichael | 534 c418-9 (Link to this contribution) Doubtless the Department for Transport will deal with that. We have a new Secretary of State, and I ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 534 c383 (Link to this contribution) Would not the Government do better to try to close the tax gap and stop people hiding their money in...
Mary Creagh | 534 c383 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I agree, and I know that the Government are working to close tax loopholes, as we did in govern...
Therese Coffey | 534 c382 (Link to this contribution) My understanding is that the motion was tabled only last night, so the Government would have known o...
Mary Creagh | 534 c382-3 (Link to this contribution) It is at the Minister's discretion whether she appears in the Chamber. She could have been informed ...
Caroline Lucas | 534 c384 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady think a little humility might be in order, given that when we take into account t...
David Mowat | 534 c383 (Link to this contribution) I note the comment, ““Our Labour Government were the greenest Government””. We were 25th out of the ...
Mary Creagh | 534 c383 (Link to this contribution) We on the Labour Benches have always protected the environment, whether by setting up the national p...
Harriett Baldwin | 534 c384 (Link to this contribution) I represent a flood-hit constituency in the Severn valley. We had serious floods in 1998, 2000 and 2...
Mary Creagh | 534 c384 (Link to this contribution) I shall make a little progress and I will give way again. Today we see open warfare breaking out be...
Diana Johnson | 534 c385 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend say something about the effect of the cuts in flood defences? Constituents in ar...
Mary Creagh | 534 c385 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend, as usual, makes an excellent point. She has spoken eloquently and at length about th...
Rory Stewart | 534 c385 (Link to this contribution) This is not a party political question. The Scots argue strongly that one of the best ways to deal w...
Mary Creagh | 534 c385 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for that question, but I did not hear him thank us for the flood defences...
Mary Creagh | 534 c396 (Link to this contribution) What I said was certainly not meant to sound arrogant; it was a debating point, made in jest to the ...
Lord Benyon | 534 c396 (Link to this contribution) I will give way for the last time and then make some progress.
Andrew Selous | 534 c397 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend mentioned the Environment Agency earlier. I wonder whether he shares my concern about...
Lord Benyon | 534 c396-7 (Link to this contribution) It is certainly not that; it is a sensible comparison. One cannot compare how the hon. Lady's party ...
Lord Benyon | 534 c397 (Link to this contribution) I shall certainly look at that situation in my hon. Friend's constituency. It is vital that we take ...
Tony Cunningham | 534 c396 (Link to this contribution) I am not going to make a party political point; I want to look forward rather than backwards. Will t...
Lord Benyon | 534 c396 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman knows, I have huge respect for the leadership that he showed at the time of th...
Lord Benyon | 534 c399 (Link to this contribution) I think the hon. Lady shows a churlishness that is not in her character. She is usually among the mo...
Kerry McCarthy | 534 c399 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has just mentioned the natural environment White Paper. What does he think of the criti...
Lord Benyon | 534 c399 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is prescient; I am about to come to that point. We have published the cross-governme...
Graham Stuart | 534 c398 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister foresee a time when natural capital will form part of the national accounts in the...
Lord Benyon | 534 c399 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend. Let me say with absolute clarity that we want to reverse the declin...
Andrew George | 534 c399 (Link to this contribution) May I interpret the last intervention as a constructive contribution, indicating that the Labour par...
Lord Benyon | 534 c398 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to get into a long economic debate, but the hon. Gentleman is right in one sense. Gree...
Kelvin Hopkins | 534 c398 (Link to this contribution) Spending more, particularly in labour-intensive areas such as those we are debating today, would gen...
Lord Benyon | 534 c397-8 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point. The new partnership scheme will end the probl...
Rory Stewart | 534 c397 (Link to this contribution) In fact, we have not experienced capital cuts in Cumbria; rather, the Environment Agency is being co...
Lord Benyon | 534 c395 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman forgets that a 50% cut in capital spending has to come from somewhere. I entirely...
Graham Stuart | 534 c394 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is acutely aware of how devastated east Yorkshire was by flooding in 2007. One of the m...
Lord Benyon | 534 c393-4 (Link to this contribution) May I thank the hon. Member for Wakefield (Mary Creagh)for tabling this motion? I could not have wan...
Huw Irranca-Davies | 534 c394 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for giving way so early on. Will he correct the supposition of the hon. Member ...
Lord Benyon | 534 c394 (Link to this contribution) Before the election, the previous Chancellor announced that there would be a 50% cut in DEFRA's capi...
Mary Creagh | 534 c392 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith).
Speaker | 534 c392 (Link to this contribution) Order. There is so much chuntering going on that I cannot hear about these naked cucumbers through a...
Mary Creagh | 534 c392-3 (Link to this contribution) Supermarkets do encourage shoppers with deals that may not be as cheap as they first appear, such as...
Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park | 534 c392 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Lady for giving way on the subject of inappropriate vegetables. I believe that up t...
Huw Irranca-Davies | 534 c392 (Link to this contribution) On naked cucumbers? [Interruption.]
Lord Benyon | 534 c395-6 (Link to this contribution) We are moving towards it, but I shall come on to that in a minute. I am grateful to my hon. Friend ...
Mary Creagh | 534 c395 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for giving way; he is being very generous. The five or six matters that he outl...
Lord Benyon | 534 c395 (Link to this contribution) I shall get back to the right hon. Lady. [Interruption.] I am sure she understands that this is not ...
Joan Ruddock | 534 c395 (Link to this contribution) I wonder if the Minister heard me correctly. The duty is mandatory. What has he done with the local ...
Lord Benyon | 534 c395 (Link to this contribution) I am trying to answer the right hon. Lady. Local factors apply. These matters can, and should, be d...
Lord Benyon | 534 c395 (Link to this contribution) We absolutely want to meet the EU's waste reduction targets and the recycling targets, and we will c...
Joan Ruddock | 534 c395 (Link to this contribution) I remind the Minister that, in 2003, a private Member's Bill that I introduced and which became an A...
Lord Benyon | 534 c395 (Link to this contribution) I shall make some progress, and then I shall certainly give way to the hon. Lady. The hon. Lady tal...
Mary Creagh | 534 c389-90 (Link to this contribution) I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend's role in government. Obviously, the decisions that we made in...
Joan Ruddock | 534 c389 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend remember, as I do, the amount of opposition from Tories and Lib Dems to all appl...
David Wright | 534 c390 (Link to this contribution) I represent the seat that holds the birthplace of industry, and, some would therefore argue, the bir...
Mary Creagh | 534 c389 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. Our proposal to reduce VAT to 5% on people's improvements to their homes in making them more...
Luciana Berger | 534 c389 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure where the hon. Member for Warrington South (David Mowat) got his figures from. Every y...
Mary Creagh | 534 c389 (Link to this contribution) I certainly do; once again, my hon. Friend is absolutely right. Uncertainty is the thing that busine...
Mary Creagh | 534 c389 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the hon. Gentleman for absolutely the last time.
David Mowat | 534 c389 (Link to this contribution) The shadow Minister is very generous and I thank her for giving way for absolutely the last time. I ...
Mary Creagh | 534 c392 (Link to this contribution) I do indeed, and I know that many of them are doing that. I have had a debate with the Co-operative ...
Mary Creagh | 534 c390-1 (Link to this contribution) That is a very good point. I wonder whether the Minister will say something about Labour's ““Food 20...
Andrew Gwynne | 534 c391 (Link to this contribution) I commend to my hon. Friend the partnership between the Labour-led Greater Manchester waste disposal...
Mary Creagh | 534 c390 (Link to this contribution) I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for that contribution. I agree that it is very important that these ...
Mark Spencer | 534 c390 (Link to this contribution) I know that the hon. Lady will acknowledge that these are complicated issues. I want to turn her att...
Mary Creagh | 534 c391-2 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that would be a great idea in a perfect world, but we are living in the real world and nee...
Kerry McCarthy | 534 c392 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that supermarkets have a role to play in reducing waste, by reducing food ...
Mary Creagh | 534 c391 (Link to this contribution) I pay tribute to that scheme, because it has created certainty not just for the council, but for emp...
Andrew George | 534 c391 (Link to this contribution) Does the shadow Secretary of State accept that a weakness in the motion and in her waste policy is t...
Mary Creagh | 534 c386 (Link to this contribution) That is a very good point, and there is also a direct impact on construction and engineering jobs, w...
Geraint Davies | 534 c386 (Link to this contribution) With a reduction in the flood defence budget to pre-Pitt levels, does my hon. Friend agree that, in ...
Mary Creagh | 534 c387 (Link to this contribution) I pay tribute to my hon. Friend. I read in Hansard the debates he had last year on the issue. The fl...
Tony Cunningham | 534 c386 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend mentioned Carlisle. The terrible floods that occurred in my constituency in 2009 crea...
Neil Carmichael | 534 c386 (Link to this contribution) Apart from the fact that we have £2.1 billion prepared for flood defences, does the hon. Lady agree ...
Mary Creagh | 534 c386 (Link to this contribution) It is clear that localism is absolutely vital and local communities should be able to have a say on ...
Andrew George | 534 c386 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure whether I should thank the hon. Lady personally for any flood defences that have been ...
Mary Creagh | 534 c386 (Link to this contribution) We cannot allow all development to be killed off, but I agree that there is no point building and se...
Mary Creagh | 534 c385 (Link to this contribution) It was our pleasure. I know that Carlisle also suffered terribly. We cannot stop all development. Th...
Bill Esterson | 534 c389 (Link to this contribution) There is an opportunity to promote jobs and growth in the green sector by cutting the rate of VAT to...
Mary Creagh | 534 c388 (Link to this contribution) I could not agree more with my hon. Friend. I must tell the hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wils...
Barry Sheerman | 534 c388 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend should ignore the campaign against having an environmental agenda, because it is not ...
Mary Creagh | 534 c388 (Link to this contribution) When we were in government, we invested £60 million to allow wind turbine manufacturers to invest in...
Mary Creagh | 534 c388 (Link to this contribution) We have leadership in offshore wind, and that was restated by the Secretary of State for Energy and ...
David Mowat | 534 c388 (Link to this contribution) I agree with everything that the shadow Secretary of State has said, but I am concerned that after 1...
Mary Creagh | 534 c388 (Link to this contribution) What a sorry tale. Again, the power of the Whips is demonstrated, even in Committee. That shows the ...
David Mowat | 534 c388 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady believe that if we had had more carbon reporting in the past 13 years we would no...
Mary Creagh | 534 c387 (Link to this contribution) It is not a matter of either/or. Unlike the Government, far-sighted companies have realised that rep...
Luciana Berger | 534 c387-8 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend share my concern and frustration that, on carbon reporting, proposals to display...
Rory Stewart | 534 c415 (Link to this contribution) That is a very fair point, and it is absolutely right that Cornwall got a good deal at the time when...
Mary Creagh | 534 c382 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House believes that the UK risks being left behind in its attempts to attra...
Sammy Wilson | 534 c387 (Link to this contribution) I know that the Labour party has an obsession with carbon emissions, and indeed the Climate Change A...
Lord Soames of Fletching | 534 c402 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way.
Rory Stewart | 534 c406 (Link to this contribution) I am a little troubled by the idea that the Opposition are presenting their policies to be quite so ...
Alan Campbell | 534 c429 (Link to this contribution) claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36). Question put forthwith, That the Question be n...
Neil Carmichael | 534 c417-8 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to address the House in this fascinating debate, which has drawn two interest...
Mary Creagh | 534 c384 (Link to this contribution) A little humility might be in order for the hon. Lady, who ignores the fact that we were the first G...
Mary Creagh | 534 c384-5 (Link to this contribution) That is an honourable intervention from the hon. Lady. I think it was The Guardian that reported tha...
Lord Benyon | 534 c397 (Link to this contribution) I will give way once more before making some progress.
Mary Creagh | 534 c389 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that the hon. Gentleman has been reading the useful publications from the European Un...
Subjects
Business
Broadband
Employment
Flood control
Environment protection
Expenditure
Food
Economic growth
Planning
Recycling
Waste management
Renewable energy
Technology
Rural areas
Carbon emissions
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