{"id":38865,"date":"2019-03-06T13:28:56","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T13:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/?p=38865"},"modified":"2019-03-06T18:29:15","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T18:29:15","slug":"new-uk-green-watchdog-based-eu-system-says-gove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2019\/03\/06\/new-uk-green-watchdog-based-eu-system-says-gove\/","title":{"rendered":"New UK green watchdog to be based on EU system, says Gove"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The British government&#8217;s proposals for a post-Brexit environment law and watchdog are modelled on the European Commission system they are meant to replace, environment secretary Michael Gove told MPs on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As a prominent advocate for leaving the European Union, Gove has long argued that Brexit will allow the UK to strengthen its environmental protections and set policies more effectively.<\/p>\n<p>But when it comes to the commission&#8217;s role in making sure governments fulfil\u00a0policies, the &#8220;easily understandable process&#8221; in Brussels sets a good example for Britain&#8217;s Environment Bill, he\u00a0told the House of Commons&#8217; Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There are lots of other things where we wish to do things differently,&#8221;\u00a0Gove\u00a0said.\u00a0&#8220;But given that we will have had a degree of confidence in the process &#8211; whereby the commission can give an opinion and then if necessary go with infraction proceedings &#8211; people have a high degree of confidence that &#8211; whatever else are the defects of the EU &#8211; that is a good working model. And therefore we&#8217;ve sought to replicate it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The same goes for the government&#8217;s plan to establish environmental principles\u00a0to guide policymaking.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0treaty that created the EU includes commitments to, for example, ensure that a polluter always pays. Legal experts\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2019\/02\/27\/uk-bill-weaken-environmental-law-brexit-legal-experts-tell-mps\/\" target=\"_blank\">told MPs last week<\/a> that the UK&#8217;s draft would create loopholes for lawmakers to avoid following them.<\/p>\n<div>Broadly, the EU principles are &#8220;well understood&#8221;, Gove told MPs. &#8220;The logic&#8230; is, you say what the principles are on the face of the bill, and then the government goes to parliament and says this is how we&#8217;re going to put the principles into effect and then you of course have regards to those principles when you&#8217;re shaping new legislation.&#8221;<\/div>\n<p>Environmental advocates,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2019\/01\/16\/mps-call-expand-post-brexit-green-programme-across-whole-government\/\" target=\"_blank\">MPs, the National Audit Office<\/a>\u00a0and others have expressed concerns that the draft Environment Bill fails to give the watchdog enough independence and power to hold the government to account for its shortfalls.<\/p>\n<p>In response to criticism, Gove said repeatedly on Wednesday that his department is still &#8220;open to suggestions&#8221; and &#8220;open-minded&#8221; as it prepares to release the final version this year.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Global issues need global coverage<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CHN is dedicated to bringing you the best climate reporting from around the world. It\u2019s a huge job and we need your help.<\/p>\n<p>Through\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/climatehomenews\" target=\"_blank\">our Patreon account<\/a>\u00a0you can give as little or as much as you like to support our work. It\u2019s safe and easy to sign up.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Climate Home News\u2019 reporting on Brexit is supported by a grant from the European Climate Foundation. Please read our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/about-us\/\">editorial guidelines<\/a>\u00a0for more details.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/about-us\/republishing-our-work\/\">Republish this article<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#8216;Whatever else are the defects of the EU &#8211; that is a good working model,&#8217; the environment secretary told MPs","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":38866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1411,4235,3858,82],"tags":[],"coauthors":[4243],"class_list":["post-38865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-brexit","category-policy","category-eu","type-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.3 - 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