Lord Redesdale: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations of the report by Zero Hour, Net Zero: The Ambition Gap, published on 10 August 2022.
Lord Redesdale: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to align their carbon emission reduction plans with the UK's proportionate share of the remaining global carbon budget for limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Lord Redesdale: To ask His Majesty's Government which planned housing developments, if any, are currently not proceeding as result of low water levels across the UK.
Lord Redesdale: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce the environmental risks of (1) pesticides, and (2) highly hazardous chemicals.
Lord Redesdale: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) prevent, (2) reduce, and (3) eliminate, plastic pollution.
Lord Redesdale: My Lords, I will speak to three amendments in my name—Amendments 261, 262 and 263. These are probing amendments, on which I hope the Minister can give some clarification, as this is very much a Pepper v Hart moment, where ambiguity over wording in the Bill could cause some problems. Historic environment record services are vital not only in not protecting our historic environment records...
Steps to promote and protect woodland cover, and to control grey squirrels – Lord Redesdale.
Lord Redesdale: My Lords, this is a simple tidying-up amendment to remove a financial provision that should have been removed in Committee. I beg to move. Amendment agreed.
Lord Redesdale: My Lords, this is a simple Bill. It started off with far more clauses, but we removed most of them to allow just one simple provision: to reverse the catastrophic decline we are seeing in nature in the UK. The UK is one of the most naturally depleted countries in the world, which is quite surprising considering how little is being done to look at how we are going to reverse that. I was very...
Lord Redesdale: My Lords, I thank the Minister for his reply; I know that he has a personal passion for this area and brings a great deal of knowledge to the department. I do question whether the 2042 target is far too far away. However, on the basis of his reassurance, I commend the Bill to the House. Bill passed and sent to the Commons.
Lord Redesdale: My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have taken part in this short debate on the amendments. I particularly thank the noble Lord, Lord Randall, for talking about the difficulties in getting Private Members’ Bills through, especially with the Government not often being receptive. The purpose of Private Members’ Bills is often to prod the Government to do something that they should do as...
Lord Redesdale: My Lords, In moving Amendment 1, I shall speak also to Amendments 2 to 18. I thank the Minister for turning up to answer today, although he is a Climate Change Minister, but he will notice that my amendments remove most of the climate change provisions from the Bill. This is not because I do not believe they were valuable measures. The problem with Private Members’ Bills is that you have...
Lord Redesdale: My Lords, I will be extremely brief at this time of the evening, because although the Bill offers a cornucopia of issues that I would wish to speak on—I see the usual faces who participate in these debates and have followed many of the points raised, especially on energy efficiency—I have only two questions to raise. We obviously support the Bill, and it is going through very quickly, but...
Lord Redesdale: My Lords, I thank the Minister for her reply, and I thank her officials. I know that it is very difficult working in two areas, but it has ever been thus—DTI and Defra, then DECC and Defra and now BEIS and Defra—and I have worked with many of them in the past. I also thank so many noble Lords for taking part. I was absolutely devastated by the Minister’s admission that the Government...
Lord Redesdale: My Lords, first, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Bloomfield, for being here today, because I know that, like me, she wanted to be at the parliamentary clay pigeon shooting. Without our excellent skills, I am afraid that the House of Lords is facing defeat. I also thank all those who support the Zero Hour campaign, including the many volunteers, the staff both past and present, and the...
Lord Redesdale: The simplest way of saving money on household bills is through insulation. Will the Government say whether they will redirect their successful efforts in insulating people’s roofs into draught-proofing people’s houses? Some 15% of the energy in a house is wasted through draughts, and a cost-effective method of dealing with that would be a national campaign to deal with draughts in...
