National Biodiversity Network Report

Lord Lilley Excerpts

Monday 4th November 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, I shall be very pleased indeed if there is a return of a Conservative Government because we will put the environment four-square in the centre in this country, in our overseas territories and globally. That is one of the prime responsibilities of government. We have an emergency. I have talked about the noble Lord shaking his noble head before. He asked what a Tory Government will do about it. There is a great story in the Falklands. Our approach in dealing with rats on South Georgia has meant that pipits and pintails are back in profusion. Dealing with invasive species is one of the most important things. Tourism to that great set of islands is very important.

[Lord Lilley (Con)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as the former representative of the constituency containing Rothamsted. That is the principal area where GM and other species development is going on, enabling us to use varieties of plants that cut down on the use of pesticides, which are so damaging to biodiversity. Unfortunately, as long as we are members of the EU we will be unable to do so and will therefore put biodiversity at risk.

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, the point about gene editing is that it is very important that we use the best science to ensure that we feed the world and restore nature. The whole point about the scientific endeavour is to make sure that we do both. We must be aiming for both. We cannot find ourselves enhancing the environment and then not producing enough food. We need to work on that as a joint endeavour.