UK Parliament's Audit Committee Says New Environment Bill Falls Short Of Stated Objectives

The United Kingdom's new Environment Bill, which aims to create a new framework for environmental governance once the country leaves the European Union, lacks coherence and falls short of its proposed objectives, the UK Parliament's Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) said on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th April, 2019) The United Kingdom's new Environment Bill, which aims to create a new framework for environmental governance once the country leaves the European Union, lacks coherence and falls short of its proposed objectives, the UK Parliament's Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) said on Thursday.

The EAC conducted a pre-legislative review of a draft of the bill, which set out to create the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), an independent environmental body meant to hold government and public bodies accountable to environmental standards and law. The committee said there were multiple areas of concern that needed to be resolved before the bill was introduced.

"If we want to be a world-leader in environmental protection, we need a world-leading body to protect it. The Government promised to create a new body for governance that would go beyond standards set by the European Union. The Bill, so far, falls woefully short of this vision," Mary Creagh, chair of the EAC, said in a published statement.

Upon reviewing only the governance and principles sections of the bill's draft, the committee found the bill to be deficient in several areas, particularly in its application. Not only was it limited in terms of geographical scope it only applied to England but it also did not provide the OEP with effective enough enforcement powers.

Additionally, the committee said that the bill failed to provide a framework for the UK government to be held accountable for achieving environmental targets.

The EAC said that the proposed bill was a significant downgrade from the environmental principles which guided the European Union's legislation.

The creation of the Environment Bill was announced by UK Prime Minister Theresa May in July 2018. The draft was published in December, during which time UK Environment Secretary Michael Grove said that the bill was a step in the United Kingdom's plan to be the first generation to leave the environment in the country in a better state than in which it found it.

The United Kingdom has been experiencing a so called Extinction Rebellion disruption campaign being carried out across London by environmental activists since April 15. The protesters have been blocking traffic in various parts of the city and demanding the UK government to address what they describe as a global "ecological emergency." On Tuesday, police charged 70 people for various offenses in connection with the protests.