Speeches by Creagh.

“We all have a lot to learn from each other. I offer those statistics in the spirit of co-operation and encouraging good practice. Between January 2023 and 2 August 2024, there were 21 substantiated illegal waste sites in the Staffordshire area, and all 21 of them have been stopped from operating, the vast majority with…”

“I have not had specific advice on closure. It is clear that there is a criminal investigation under way, and we have to let that take its course. Let us look at waste crime. In recent years there has been an increase in the involvement of serious and organised criminal gangs in the waste sector. That is of the greatest…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I want to correct the record on what the shadow Minister said about the waste figures, because the methodology changed in 2019-20. In that year, there were 980,000 incidents of fly-tipping. The numbers to 2022-23 increased by 10.5% to 1.08 million incidents, so the numbers and the tr…”

“What a pleasure it is to be back and serving under your esteemed chairmanship, Mr Efford. I thank all honourable colleagues for their kind words on my return to the House after my short enforced sabbatical. Can I say how thrilled I am to respond to this debate? As an Environment Minister, I know that everyone’s environ…”

“I really have to make progress because I will run out of time. On the waste carrier, broker and dealer regime, who gets to carry the licences? We heard of a dead dog called Oscar signing up for a waste permitting licence. Over the last 14 years the scheme has been wide open for criminals and abuse. We need to make refo…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her contribution and agree that if we are to create a zero-waste economy, which is the stated aim of this Labour Government, we have to start by ensuring that we increase collection and follow the environmental principles that ensure that the polluter pays. It comes back to some of the points…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for the intervention. The Secretary of State is today visiting the Purple Horizons project in the west midlands, an example of a huge nature recovery project extending across 10,000 hectares of vital heathlands, wetlands, woodlands and grasslands. That is an example of the partnership working…”

“I congratulate you, Madam Deputy Speaker, on your election, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Brent West (Barry Gardiner) for his very kind words to me, and for securing today’s debate. What an incredible privilege it is to stand here as the Minister for nature in a Labour Government who will put this at the fr…”

“I am in passionate agreement with my hon. Friend. I assure him that it is one of the first submissions that I have seen as a Minister. We will absolutely do our best, and I will write to him should there be any issues around publication. We need to mobilise finance from all sources and align global financial flows with…”