Environmental Protection

Chris Vince Excerpts

Tuesday 21st January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Alistair Strathern (Hitchin) (Lab)]

I welcome the regulations, which are as important as they are long overdue. I thank my hon. Friend the Minister for the zeal she has brought to her role in ensuring that after several years of dither and delay, we finally have a Bill to bring this important measure forward.

For far too long, we as a society have not grappled with the blights of plastic pollution and litter. With over 75% of the litter across our high streets made up of the type of drink bottles we are talking about, the measure will be an important way of tackling issues that we know our communities care about. Fantastic local groups such as Plastic Free Hitchin and Shefford, litter picking associations and other community groups in my constituency play their part, doing everything they can to keep my community and the countryside clear of litter. We owe it to them to ensure that as a Government we do our bit, too.

Back in 2018, the previous Government confirmed that they were looking at the idea of such a measure, so it is a matter of great regret that we have waited so many years for one and that the Opposition have provided little support for it today. That lost time should not just be cause for embarrassment, as we have seen so many other countries stealing a run on the measure and introducing a scheme that has been shown to work in jurisdiction after jurisdiction. That failure is literally littered all across our countryside. The paths that make my community so special and our rivers, lakes, oceans and beaches that we are all so proud of as a country are littered with plastic pollution that could have been tackled had the measure been brought forward earlier.

We know that where similar schemes have been introduced across the world there have been real benefits. There have been dramatic increases in returns—90% and above is quite typical for such plastic return schemes, but the current rate for our kerbside collection scheme is just 70%. We can ensure that we are doing more to improve circularity and the collection of virgin plastic so that we have the high-quality supply stream for recyclability that the industry is crying out for—that is why the Food & Drink Federation supports the measure. And we can ensure that we tackle littering, to address the issues that are blighting too many of our communities.

Given the need to act at pace, which was so lacking under the previous Government, I absolutely understand why we are focusing on important quick wins. However, it would be remiss of me not to address a wider recycling issue in my community that I have raised several times with the Minister: metal recycling. Five times in the last year, people in Hitchin have woken up to plumes of smoke and possible contamination in the air, as time and again local metal recycling plants have caught fire, often triggered by lithium-ion batteries making their way into the waste source. By working together—and trying to knock heads together—between councils, the Environment Agency and other authorities with a remit, we are looking to make progress, but there is clearly also a case for national action to ensure that the Environment Agency has the powers it needs to address that problem at source, and that we have wider measures on the recycling of lithium-ion batteries to reduce the risk of their ending up as contaminants in metal recycling in the first place. I will continue to press the Minister on that, but I know from my conversations with her that she is alive to the risks in that space. I hope that, over the course of this Parliament, we can deliver real change on that, too.

In the meantime, I am incredibly proud to support this important measure. Ensuring that we learn from the successes and challenges facing other jurisdictions will be important, as will ensuring that we have the right level of deposits, the right infrastructure in place, and the right support for smaller retailers to take part in the scheme.

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

I thank my hon. Friend for his excellent speech. He makes a valid point about the importance of the measures not only for the environment but for business and retailers. Does he agree that this legislation, which is, as he points out, absolutely overdue, will benefit not only the environment and our wombles—we also have some in Harlow—but business, too?

[Alistair Strathern]

Absolutely. It will be important to establish close collaboration to ensure that the scheme is as effective as possible. There is a reason the Food & Drink Federation supports the measures: without them, it will not have the supply of high-quality recycled plastics needed to hit the targets that it is so keen to hit and is often already committed to. Without the legislation, those targets become almost impossible.

I will conclude my remarks by building on those of my hon. Friend the Member for Brent West (Barry Gardiner), who highlighted the historical importance of good cross-party consensus and the importance of climate and nature issues. For a long time, this measure had cross-party support, and it is deeply regrettable that that does not seem to be the case today. I take some heart from the Conservatives’ lack of enthusiasm to leap in and speak bombastically about their newfound opposition to the measures, which I hope is a sign that there may be space in the coming months to work more collaboratively to ensure that we support the measures to be as effective as possible.

I am incredibly grateful to the Minister for lending me her ear on the important issue of metal recycling in Hitchin, and for the leadership that she has shown on this legislation, which will make a real difference for my community and those across the country. It is about time that we lead on making it a reality.

Farming and Food Security

Chris Vince Excerpts

Tuesday 8th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Dr Hudson]

I thank my hon. Friend the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee for that intervention. It is so important that the Government listen to this request and fund the redevelopment of the APHA in full.

My journey into politics started in 2001 with the outbreak of foot and mouth disease. I know what the implications are—I saw sights then that I never want to see again in my lifetime—and we have seen what happens when biosecurity breaks down. That brings me to mental health, which has been touched on.

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

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way on the point of farmers’ mental health. As my constituency neighbour, will he join me in championing YANA—You Are Not Alone—a local charity that is now stretching into Essex, and supports the mental health of farmers and rural workers?

[Dr Hudson]

I would be happy to champion YANA, the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution, Yellow Wellies, and all the other institutions and charities that support mental health. I urge the Government to look at the EFRA Committee’s report last year on rural mental health, which touches on many of these issues and makes key recommendations. We need to support our farming communities when serious things happen, such as flooding or disease outbreaks. When something more chronic happens—say, when farms get a positive result during periodic tuberculosis testing—we need to make sure that the mental health of farmers, vets, and everyone else is supported. That is so important.

We have talked about flooding. People in rural and urban communities in flood risk areas have not only the trauma of being flooded, but the anxiety of worrying about being flooded. Ministers will be called out in their wellies in floods, but communities need to be supported when the waters go down and the blue lights leave—that is another key recommendation of our report. We need to protect the farming budget and make sure that the money goes out through the farming recovery fund to support flooded communities.

We can help our farming and food-producing communities. We encourage people to buy British, and I pay tribute to the NFU and to my hon. Friend the Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans) for the Buy British campaign that all the British supermarkets have signed up to. We need to support our local communities by eating local and buying local. That is so good for local communities, and it is also good for the animals: it reduces distance and time to slaughter, and food miles.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Vince Excerpts

Thursday 12th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Steve Reed]

We will publish all information relating to the Bill at the appropriate time during its passage through Parliament.

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

What action will the Secretary of State and his Department take to support farmers in addressing rural crime, which is a huge issue for farmers in my constituency and across Essex?

[Steve Reed]

I am pleased to say that I made a joint announcement with the Home Secretary that this will be the first Government to have a cross-departmental rural crime strategy intended to cut the huge impact of rural crime on communities.