Climate Change

Debate between Lord Foulkes of Cumnock and Lord Benyon

Tuesday 11th July 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

Oil as part of our economy is seen as a transition, and we want to make sure that we move our whole energy production to a renewable and non-carbon basis. The continued use of oil is inevitable, but we will continue to make sure that the economy is based on as much renewable as possible. If the noble Baroness, like me, goes on to the National Grid app, she can see that as of today, at this precise moment, energy from renewable way exceeds energy from oil and gas.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, has the Minister noticed that Green politicians tend to be a wee bit hypocritical? We have two Green Ministers in Scotland, Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie, who go everywhere in chauffeur-driven cars when there is perfectly good public transport available, which I use regularly. Is it not about time that they lived up to their theories in their actions?

Live Animals: Export Ban

Debate between Lord Foulkes of Cumnock and Lord Benyon

Monday 10th July 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

There has never been a significant import trade for slaughter or fattening. For example, from 2019 to 2021, only 91 cattle and 14 sheep were imported for slaughter from the mainland EU. A key concern of many of those who opposed live exports was that once they are exported to the EU, we do not know where they are going. We can now make sure that, through the actions of the Animal and Plant Health Agency, we are keeping track of everything, so we want to make sure this ban is in place as soon as possible.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I have been listening carefully to the Minister’s reply. He said the legislation will be brought forward in this Parliament, not in this Session of Parliament, so the noble Baroness, Lady Fookes, is very wise to keep an eye on what the Minister is up to. Can I help him? I have a suggestion. We can have it in this Session of Parliament; all the Government need to do is to withdraw immediately the Illegal Migration Bill.

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

I will of course pass on the noble Lord’s words to the business managers, but I totally agree with him that the noble Baroness, Lady Fookes, is wise.

Disposable and Reusable Nappies

Debate between Lord Foulkes of Cumnock and Lord Benyon

Wednesday 28th June 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I must confess that I am not an expert on nappies, despite the rumours and attacks that I get from the Scottish nationalists about incontinence. However, in view of the absolute shambles that the Scottish Greens have made of the deposit return scheme, will the Minister be very wary of anything put forward by their English counterparts?

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

I think we all want a deposit return scheme, which is a very important way of recycling more products, but the coalition between the Greens and the Scottish National Party has created a disaster zone and has actually put the whole thing back. I think we are now on track to have a scheme that will be a UK-wide common standard for similar products, which has long been needed. That will be better for Scotland, the United Kingdom and the environment.

Scotland: Bottle Deposit Return Scheme

Debate between Lord Foulkes of Cumnock and Lord Benyon

Monday 27th February 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

The noble Lord is exactly right. If we were indulging in grown-up politics across all the Governments, we would have a scheme that acknowledged that waste is a devolved but aligned issue. There is undoubtedly an environmental benefit from reducing the amount of waste going to landfill and the amount of litter plaguing our highways, in particular. It is possible to run a perfectly sensible scheme. We have been discussing a scheme with the Welsh and Northern Irish Governments, but it should be run in alignment right across these islands. The Scottish Government have sought to appear more virtuous and to rush this, and they have failed the Scottish people and Scottish businesses. The scheme will result in huge costs and even the risk of booze cruises, so that people can go south of the border to get drink at 50% less cost. This is entirely ridiculous. We want to work with the people of Scotland to make sure we align on this.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, for once I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth—and that does not happen very often. However, I fear the Minister has underestimated the seriousness of this matter. The Minister dealing with this appeared on television in Scotland yesterday. Although participating manufacturers have to sign up by Tuesday—tomorrow—she said she is reviewing whether there will be a delay of a year. This is total chaos. If the Minister can imagine the situation, if this goes ahead, manufacturers, including small manufacturers, will have to produce separate bottles and cans for Scotland and for England, which will be enormously expensive. If they do not, can he imagine the trade that might take place at Carlisle or Gretna, with people gathering the bottles that are worth 10p and going from England to Scotland and making hundreds and thousands of pounds. The whole thing is total chaos. This is a very good idea, but it must be done on a United Kingdom basis, so there is not this confusion. Will the Minister talk immediately with the Secretary of State for Scotland and see if he can impose Section 35 of the Scotland Act, stop this nonsense straight away and make sure a UK scheme is introduced, which would benefit the whole of the United Kingdom?

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

I cannot disagree at all with the noble Lord. I agree with everything he said and assure him that I spoke to the Secretary of State for Scotland on this matter this morning. He is absolutely resolute that the points raised by the noble Lord are the case and are a serious problem, particularly in cross-border trade—even the letter that I quoted earlier talks about the risk of fraud. But this fits in with a pattern—on educational attainment, on ferries, on drug policy—that the people of his country have to endure with the Government in Scotland. We want to make sure that on environmental policy such as this there is an alignment. It is perfectly possible for all four countries of the union to work through a scheme and implement it gently, in way that does not have great inflationary costs and does not damage business, but that works with the grain of public opinion, which wants to see more recycling, less litter and a scheme that works.

Avian Influenza: Game Birds

Debate between Lord Foulkes of Cumnock and Lord Benyon

Wednesday 18th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

Some work has been done with Natural England and the British Association for Shooting and Conservation to try to assess the impact. For the vast majority of cases, the birds disperse among other wildlife in a way which does not affect it, but there may be certain areas where there is an impact. We want to learn more about that, and we are working with shooting organisations to ensure that we are getting the best possible evidence.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, will the Minister confirm that all the grouse moors and pheasant shoots to which the noble Lord, Lord Colgrain, and others referred are up in Scotland? Following his answer to the previous Question, a large number of national parks are also in Scotland. That is not surprising, because Scotland represents one-third of the land area of the whole of the United Kingdom, which Lord Barnett, in his wisdom, took account of when deciding his formula.

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

The noble Lord is dexterous and ingenious at trying to wangle the previous Question into this one. Lots of those kinds of activities take place in England, and an enormous proportion of our uplands are in England as well as Scotland, so that has absolutely nothing to do with the Barnett formula.

Environmental Principles Policy Statement

Debate between Lord Foulkes of Cumnock and Lord Benyon

Monday 9th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

It is the firm policy of this Government that trade deals should not conflict with our standards on environmental protection and animal welfare.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, can I respectfully disagree with the Minister in his hope that my noble friend Lady Hayman of Ullock stays in her place? The sooner she is in his place, the better it will be for the environment.

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

The noble Lord made the point I was trying to make, in a converse way, rather better than I did. I hope that we will continue to work together on these policies.

Household Waste Recycling

Debate between Lord Foulkes of Cumnock and Lord Benyon

Thursday 7th July 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that the Scottish Greens intend to fight the next general election on the single issue of independence? Is that not a betrayal of their main purpose, including recycling?

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

I would like to recycle the Scottish Green seats into good blue ones.

Environmental Land Management Schemes

Debate between Lord Foulkes of Cumnock and Lord Benyon

Thursday 16th December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

A wide variety of different activities are being looked at as part of the tests and trials. Our announcement on local nature recovery and landscape recovery will be made next year. We are working with the test-and-trials farmers and land managers to ensure that access is part of this, as well as the very important work we need to do to reverse the declines in species.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

In reply to an earlier question, the Minister used the phrase “ongoing discussions with the Treasury”, a phrase beloved by civil servants and Ministers. Can the Minister tell us when he expects these ongoing discussions to be concluded, and how they are going to be reported to Parliament?

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

I shall certainly keep the House informed about this. My discussions with the Treasury are very fruitful in this area. The noble Lord seems sceptical of that, perhaps, but I assure him that there is a cross-government intention to provide better security for farmers in future and that schemes such as our exit scheme have the right tax framework to make them a good incentive—but also that the other aspects that we are talking about here, such as access and getting more people out in the countryside, are understood. The work that I have been doing with my noble friend Lord Agnew has been really important in trying to make sure that we get more people into the countryside.