Draft Merchant Shipping (Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Carbon Dioxide Emissions) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018

Alan Brown Excerpts

Wednesday 17th October 2018 General Committees

[Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I have just a few comments. As the Minister said, collaborative working with other countries is the only way we will reduce carbon emissions worldwide; we certainly welcome those comments and that sentiment. Replicating the regulation shows how important the EU has been in bringing countries to the fore and particularly the UK. We well remember that the UK was deemed the “dirty man of Europe”. It was European regulations that forced previous UK Governments to start to clean up their act.

I do not have technical questions in the manner of those asked by the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull East, but given that this statutory instrument is supposed to be part of preparations for Brexit and particularly no deal, which would come into effect in March, how many other statutory instruments are estimated to be required from the Minister’s Department to facilitate no deal and allow progress to continue and the UK to function on the day after Brexit? How much consultation has been undertaken on this SI, and has consideration been given to improving even further the environmental regulations?