Speeches by Tufnell.

“I welcome the introduction of the carbon border adjustment mechanism in the Bill. It shows a commitment from this Government to supporting British industry, which underpins the fabric of local economies and communities across the country, including Mid and South Pembrokeshire. For British industries included in its sco…”

“rose—”

“I thank my hon. Friend for giving way, and for his excellent speech. In the light of our departure from the European Union, the intractable nature of our discussions with the EU, and our being unable to get a better deal than any other member state has, does he agree that we should look to benefit both his constituents…”

“I am conscious of time and I have more to cover, so I want to move on to the protected sites designation, and in particular the point that Charlie talked about: the relationship between Natural England and landowners in respect of designation. In 2023 Minette Batters described you as judge and jury when it comes to des…”

“You have the CLA, the NFU and the RSPB all questioning the clarity and detail of the evidence used for designations. The OEP published a review into the implementation of these laws and that was one of the outcomes.”

“I also want to talk about monitoring marine protected areas. The OEP—the Office of Environmental Protection—has recommended that sentinel sites are identified in the MAP network and used for monitoring. Do you agree with that recommendation, and if so, how would it work in practice?”

“I guess the point is that while the RSPB has a different perspective than the CLA, they are both saying the same thing.”

“You mentioned the EIP; there was a commitment to delivering up to 12 protected sites, including five pilots, by March 2026. Can you provide an update on that?”

“With regard to those 12 sites, does that come back to what you were saying earlier, Tony—that you cannot control what is outside the site?”

“They will have their own particular axe to grind or perspective to convey, but underpinning that is the fact that they do not feel there is sufficient clarity in respect of your evidence. We have talked about outcomes, but this relates to the detail that underpins those outcomes.”

“There will be interactions between them; for example, all but two English national nature reserves are SSSIs. A single parcel of land could be covered by up to five of those designations.”

“On top of that, you have land designated as a protected site that could also be within a protected landscape, for instance a national park or national landscape. More than half of English SSSI land is within a protected landscape. That is quite a convoluted set of regulations, and obviously different legislation will h…”

“Talking about conditions, Government guidance is that assessments should be carried out every six years.”

“But a Wild Justice investigation showed that 66% of SSSIs are only investigated every 10 years.”

“Can we build on that in terms of the management of those SSSIs? You have a list of operations requiring Natural England’s consent. You can give consent, give consent with conditions, or refuse consent. If you grant consent and then withdraw it, there is a compensatory payment; but if you time-limit the consent, you do …”

“No, I am talking more broadly.”

“The right to a fair trial is fundamental to our democracy. For certain offences, a fair trial will always be a trial by jury. However, it has been long been the case that the right to a trial by jury is contingent on the offence. The Interpretation Act 1978 set out the three-tier classification of criminal offences, an…”

“In terms of the impact on the farmer or landowner, designation is based purely on scientific evidence and you are prevented from considering economic or social impacts. In terms of the funding available for those land managers, that would come from the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier fund; there is no additional fu…”

“If we stick to funding—I realise time is short—do you think that legacy Higher Level Stewardship, Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier and Landscape Recovery are sufficient to meet the EIP targets?”

“I need to declare to the Committee that my father sits on the board of Natural England. I want to talk about protected sites. There are five main types of legal protection: sites of special scientific interest or SSSIs, special areas of conservation, special protected areas, wetlands of international importance, and na…”