The Queen’s speech this week will highlight the Government’s highest priorities. We have clearer idea of the ministerial teams, but still await responsibilities. Some of previous Government’s commitments have been clearly reiterated. Dislike of solar farms, no subsidy for onshore wind and even Boris’s thoughts on this being the Greenest Government ever. Interestingly the Government’s stance on onshore wind is opposed by the SNP who see it as crucial to Scotland’s interests.
The Defra ministerial team have been announced
In addition to Liz Truss, George Eustace returns Minister of State and Rory Stewart is new as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State; no responsibilities have been assigned yet. Defra may share a minister in the Lords with another department. The details of the ministers are near the bottom of this page: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs
Mark Francois – DCLG Minister for the Coast
https://www.gov.uk/government/people/mark-francois
No more windfarms unless local people say yes, says Amber Rudd, new Energy Secretary
Telegraph: Amber Rudd also said that she would make it easier for energy companies to frack for gas in national parks. No more on shore wind farm schemes will be given the go ahead unless they have the support of local people, the new Energy secretary has said. Amber Rudd, who was appointed last week in the post-election reshuffle, said the new powers would be in next week’s Queen’s Speech.
Miss Rudd also disclosed that the new Conservative Government would try to speed up extraction of shale gas and loosen rules so it could be extracted from under national parks. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Miss Rudd said she liked to look at windfarms but recognised that their location was deeply divisive, with local people battling against them.
Here we go again – Boris’s Greenest Government Ever – Ministerial responsibilities
One thinks that the advertising standards agency or some such might take politicians to task over these claims. I suppose if you repeat stuff often enough people believe it … but they don’t…
Business Green: James Murray ‘ Boris Johnson has declared ‘Huskies are go’ for the new administration predicting that it will prove to be the ‘greenest government ever’, outstripping the record of a coalition that has trebled UK renewables capacity and delivered steady reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. To read more go to:
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2408564/boris-johnson-huskies-are-go
Defra Minister’s dislike for solar farms reaffirmed
George Eustice, minister of state at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has claimed that solar farms are ‘trashing the countryside’, according to comments reported by Western Morning News. Eustice made the comments while addressing attendees at the Devon County Show. The Defra minister’s comments reflect the tone of the department’s Secretary of State, Liz Truss who earlier this week said that she did not “want to see solar panels on really productive agricultural land”.
As a result of the ministers’ perceptions, CAP payments for land hosting solar farms were scrapped last year. However, a freedom of information request filed by Solar Power Portal revealed that the decision was made in contrary to evidence provided to ministers. Defra was informed directly by the CAP Direct Payments Team that solar farms do not have a “serious” impact on the UK’s agricultural output. The documents released under the FOI show that the CAP Direct Payments Team told Defra in September 2014 that: “Given the small areas of land covered [by solar farms] currently, it is not possible to argue that, at the national level, there is yet a serious impact on agricultural output.”
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