State of Climate and Nature

Debate between Manuela Perteghella and Mary Creagh

Monday 13th July 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mary Creagh]

I look after many things, but sadly I do not yet control the broadcast schedules of any national broadcasters. The point of the National Emergency Briefing is to get people together, a bit like the great organisation that rejoices in the name of People Planet Pint. I have been people, planet and football for most of the last three weeks, but bringing people together to discuss these issues in local areas is a really positive way for people to grab this crisis by the neck and set out what they are going to do locally.

[Manuela Perteghella (Stratford-on-Avon) (LD)]

Despite the whole-of-Government effort to tackle the climate and nature crisis, I fear that there is still a misalignment of policies across Departments, as we have seen with the dilution of environmental protections in the revisions to the national planning policy framework. Can the Minister therefore ensure that there is more collaborative working across Government so that future decisions on planning and infrastructure leave nature in a better state, rather than contributing to its decline?

[Mary Creagh]

We have the biodiversity net gain framework, which is all about making sure that there is a biodiversity uplift of 10% in every planning policy. It was a brand-new policy left to us by the previous Government, but it was not working perfectly—nothing is born perfect—so we have made some changes to make it more proportionate and ensure that it works better in practice.