Draft Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Matt Rodda Excerpts

Tuesday 15th September 2020 General Committees

[Matt Rodda (Reading East) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for setting out the Government’s position on this important draft statutory instrument.

Clearly, safety must come first when goods such as petrol, chemicals and other dangerous materials are transported. Indeed, many tankers and other vehicles pass through densely populated areas. This happens in my constituency, in roads and rail links through Reading, Woodley and Caversham, and in many other parts of this country.

Drivers may also be at risk if there is an accident. Indeed, many drivers spend a great deal of time training how to transport goods such as petrol and chemicals and how to respond to an accident, should one occur. In addition, hazardous goods often pass through environmentally sensitive areas where any spillage could cause significant damage.

As a result, this is clearly an important regulation. As such, it deserves the full attention of parliamentarians, no matter how tempting it may be for the Government to rush through legislation to change laws in the face of the looming Brexit deadline, ongoing negotiation deadlines and political pressure. We must not, as parliamentarians, allow our standards to slip.

As the Government move to transpose EU regulations into UK law, I will use this opportunity to reiterate the importance of maintaining our high standards, and the need to keep workplaces, the environment and our roads and railways safe. On safety at work, we need the full translation of legislation in order to maintain standards and provide clarity for the sectors that urgently need it. I appreciate that that seems to be the intention today. Workers and industry bodies have called for this.

It is paramount that people at work should be safe, and there are some specific protections in this industry. The petroleum driver passport should be safeguarded. This critical standard, which was hard fought for, protects health and safety, and it ensures high quality in fuel delivery. I urge the Government to work with industry bodies and trade unions to identify similar crucial standards and to move to protect them in UK law. It is not clear from the draft of the SI whether that is the case in this instance.

A number of trade unions have raised concerns with me that regulations covering construction, testing and packaging of intermediate bulk containers, large packaging tanks and bulk containers, which are all currently linked to European standards, are potentially subject to change from 2021. I would ask the Minister, who is very diligent, to take this opportunity to reassure the Committee that future regulations will ensure safety on these matters.

It is also worth pointing out some of the background to this. Surveys of those working in the haulage industry shows that many drivers already work with high levels of tiredness and exhaustion. Given those existing conditions, I believe it is paramount that standards are not allowed to fall, especially when it comes to dangerous goods, which we are discussing today.

In the past, the Government have refused to rule out suspending regulations in order to overcome potential Brexit difficulties, rather like those mentioned in today’s press. Some Members may have seen the report in The Guardian today about the possibility of 7,000 lorries being held up at the border. Again, I ask the Minister to reassure the Committee that she is willing to continue these sensible regulations.

It is also worth mentioning that the industry does not want to see these important standards reduced either. For example, British Aerosol Manufacturers’ Association stresses that current legislation is complex and detailed precisely because this complexity allows for the regulation to guarantee public safety, and the Government should not take shortcuts when it comes to moving these regulations into UK law. Similarly, the Institute of Explosives Engineers also points out that there are currently specific considerations for the transfer of information between the UK and EU bodies. There is a range of similar areas, and I hope the Minister will reassure the Committee that her team and the Department are still considering these matters, and that we will have further reassurance.

More broadly, it is worth noting that EU regulations have played an important role in raising environmental standards in the UK. Friends of the Earth has concluded:

“Through laws, constant pressure and the threat of fines, the EU has been the main force driving the UK government to clean up its act.”

That is across a broad sweep of environmental measures, dealing with beaches, various forms of emissions and hazardous goods.

The Government must demonstrate their commitment to protecting the environment by guaranteeing existing rules in UK law, not merely by making promises. I hope the Minister will agree these issues are of great significance, and if we are to make progress on public work and environmental safety in years to come, we must first guarantee the progress we have already made.