A committee of MPs has demanded that the Government give assurances that it will maintain environmental protection measures currently guaranteed by EU law in the wake of Brexit.
In a letter to the new Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis, the Environmental Audit Committee noted that there are few areas of policy more affected by Brexit that the environment, and expressed concern that the Government might deprioritise issues such as environmental law, the Circular Economy Package and cooperation on issues such as climate change.
Britain’s membership of the EU has been crucial to the improvement of UK air quality, the cleaning up of water pollution, the management of waste, and the protection of biodiversity, said Environmental Audit Committee Chair, Mary Creagh.
Creagh added that the low carbon and renewable energy economy alone was worth £46.2bn in 2014 and that businesses and investors would be looking for stability at this time.
The Environmental Audit Committee’s 2015 inquiry into EU and UK Environmental Policy concluded that the overwhelming view of the sector was that membership of the EU has been positive for the UK environment.
