This is the easy bit, huge challenges ahead with implications for many sectors (continue)
Andrea Leadsom has been made the SoS for the Environment.
Farm payments a major priority In line with other May appointments as a leading Brexiter, Leadsom now has responsibility for devising a payment mechanism for farmers to replace EU subsidies! In austerity Britain that might be what is called a poisoned chalice.
Leadsom does understand climate change Although her quote about asking whether Climate Change was real when she started at DECC has been much quoted since her appointment, rather more to the point was her speech at the start of her leadership campaign policy a few weeks ago which firmly set out UK’s commitments to climate change. Amber Rudd, now Home Secretary, was also very clear about her support for climate change measures.
25 year plans? These very strange commitments now look rather exposed. Defra had already signalled to the waste industry that the environment plan was being postponed but given the whole sale links of farming to land and environmental management it looks likely that other priorities might now take precedence. Now George Osborne has gone it will be interesting to see whether Dieter Helm and his Natural Capital Committee have such a prominent role.
DECC Gone The Department for Energy and Climate Change has now gone, being subsumed into the new Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy lad by Greg Clark.
- James Murray’s blog in BusinessGreen is informative and balanced setting out DECC’s achievements and the next challenges.
- There is a great deal of speculation about the message this sends re climate change.
- Will the Parliamentary Committee that scrutinised DECC continue?
- Who and how junior ministers cover the various sectors will be interesting.
Oliver Letwin David Cameron’s – Mr Fixit – Oliver Letwin has also gone. He famously forgot to publish a report on the 2012 floods. Flood Report watchers should now keep an eagle on whether the Flooding Resilience report post the winter floods this year will see the light of day.
Bob Earll July 16th