Speeches by Hinchliff.

“I will try again on that point. When we had the outgoing chair of the Office for Environmental Protection here in January, I asked about her assessment of the impact of accepting all the recommendations of the Fingleton review, applying it more widely to infrastructure schemes, as suggested by the Prime Minister, and t…”

“The point is why the decision was made in relation to the JNCC advice, specifically on the Habitats Regulations, since that has been raised. Obviously, there have been substantial concerns about the proposed attack, effectively, on the Habitats Regulations put forward in the Fingleton review, and crucially on the major…”

“Quinquennial, their five-yearly report on species protection, updating which species are protected under the Wildlife Act 1981. The Government’s response was to say, “Thank you, but we are not doing it”.”

“I think many across the environmental sector would certainly recognise the characterisation. I think many would say that the problem we have with our current system is not that protections are too strong; it is that they are too weak, and there is not enough protection. Moving on to a specific point, did your Departmen…”

“Secretary of State, as we have already heard, the UK’s national biodiversity targets are largely off track. Do you think that repeated drives for deregulating environmental protections in planning policy make hitting those targets harder?”

“Over the last 25 years, companies that have donated tens of millions of pounds to political parties have been granted Government contracts worth more than £60 billion. It is pretty obvious to the public that these cosy, influential and lucrative relationships appear to be the precise opposite of high standards in publi…”

“4. What steps he is taking to uphold standards in Government.”

“Thank you, Mr Gilruth. Your frustration is clear. If I perhaps naively try one further time, the International Union for Conservation of Nature UK Peatland Programme says that it has undertaken a detailed review of the evidence, which concludes that wet peatlands are less prone to wildfires, and that healthy peatlands …”

“I am going to continue along a similar line of conversation. You have made it fairly clear from your initial comments that you do not agree with the Government when they say they believe they have reached a consensus that burning vegetation on blanket bogs is damaging to peatland formation.”

“Brilliant. That was the point I wanted to come to. Thank you for your note to the Committee earlier raising some of your concerns about that. You highlighted statements by the EU, G7, US and Scottish Government. I have looked at those. The EU, G7 and US talk about controlled burning generically but do not mention peatl…”

“Mr Gilruth, I am also grasping for an opportunity to end on a positive note here. It seemed to me that there was agreement that, broadly, where possible, we want to see the water table rising on deep peat and returning to blanket bog. You have set out that you believe that there is scientific evidence that vegetation b…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered environmental protections and biodiversity trends. It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Roger. Unfortunately for everyone involved, this will be one of my longer speeches, so I had better not take too many interventions. Let me also say at the outset that th…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her support for the red lines campaign. She is absolutely right about what makes life worth living. Investing in our country, strengthening standards and restoring our natural world will do far more to improve the lives of ordinary people than a short-sighted race to the bottom. That is the L…”

“I completely agree with my hon. Friend. As I was saying, the ecosystem services—including water, food, clean air and critical resources—are all at risk. Even our soils, the very substance of growth, have lost around half their organic carbon, threatening the sustainability of our agriculture and our ability to keep our…”

“I am very sorry, but I had better make progress at this point. Today, I am calling for clear red lines for nature: no further weakening of environmental protections, no funding cuts to environmental bodies and no more collapsing biodiversity but instead a fully funded nature recovery plan to meet our legally binding ta…”

“I completely agree with my hon. Friend about the importance of protecting our curlews, and the curlew action plan is a hugely important step, which the Government should be looking at. I also wonder how long it will be before the screaming sky falls silent, as each year, fewer swifts return to grace the air above our t…”

“As a plan 2 graduate myself, before the Minister proceeds will he put on the record an acceptance that, with the misstep on the tuition fee repayment level, the cat is out of the bag? We need to deal with it in this Parliament. I urge him to reject the tedious, time-wasting suggestions from the Lib Dems and get on and …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under you in the Chair, Sir Desmond. I am afraid I have been lured into making some side comments before getting into the meat of my speech. This is in relation to the point about aggregate supply and meeting the housing needs of young people. It is really important that we bring some facts to…”

“As the chair of the recently formed all-party parliamentary group for council and social housing, I welcome the report’s conclusion about the importance of boosting the supply of social housing to meet the huge demand for new, high-quality, genuinely affordable homes and to replace older, lower-standard homes that are …”

“The disgraceful scandals of recent days have left what little remains of faith in our democracy hanging by a thread. One of the lessons has to be that, while inherited privilege is no basis for a second Chamber, neither is self-interested patronage by political leaders. Does the Leader of the House agree that we must e…”