State of Climate and Nature

Chris Vince Excerpts

Monday 13th July 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mary Creagh]

The North Sea Transition Authority is equipped to support a fair, managed and prosperous transition, including through a new statutory objective to consider workers, communities and supply chains in its decisions, and we are extending employment rights and protections for offshore workers in renewables, bringing them into line with those working in oil and gas. We have a pragmatic plan for the North sea to secure and renew the basin’s place as Britain’s powerhouse, protecting jobs in our oil and gas heartlands, and to build the next generation of good jobs in clean energy industries. Beyond that, I am afraid I cannot say much more.

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

As you will be aware, Madam Deputy Speaker, Harlow is full of some incredibly beautiful areas of natural beauty, from Hatfield forest and Harlow town park to Parndon Wood nature reserve. I am determined that these beautiful areas will be protected not just for this generation but for generations to come, which is why I am concerned when I hear voices in this Chamber that deny the climate emergency. It is not just an emergency for the future; it is an emergency now. Will the Minister confirm that she will ensure that we do everything we can as a Labour Government to protect nature and the environment and to tackle climate change?

[Mary Creagh]

My hon. Friend is right to say that we have seen a big flip-flop from the Conservatives. I am old enough to remember when, back in 2019, they put net zero into law under Theresa May and she described it as a Conservative mission. Now their leader says that the very same target is “impossible”, so which Conservative party are the voters supposed to believe: the one that legislated for net zero or the one that now instructs its MPs to vote against it?