A proposed law to compel the Government to help achieve climate and nature targets has failed to make progress in the Commons.
The Government successfully moved a motion to adjourn the second reading debate on the Climate and Nature Bill, meaning it is unlikely to be considered further in the current parliamentary session.
Liberal Democrat MP Dr Roz Savage (South Cotswolds) had tabled the Bill to require ministers to develop a strategy with yearly targets, in a bid to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, halt oil and gas exploration and imports, and reverse nature decline in a way which is “visibly and measurably on the path to recovery”.
Some Labour MPs offered their support to the principles being pursued by the Bill, but the Commons heard it would not be pushed to a second reading vote following “fruitful conversations” between Ms Savage and the Government on how to make progress.
Ms Savage said she would be working with ministers to find a way forward.
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer clashed with the Lib Dems over the best way to approach the Bill, saying: “I understand the member for South Cotswolds has agreed not to push it to a vote today in exchange, it seems, for just a meeting with the Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero (Ed Miliband) and a video, with an agreement to work together but with no specific commitments.”
Ms Denyer was heckled by Lib Dem MPs, with one heard saying: “Are we just making stuff up now?”
Lib Dem MP Pippa Heylings (South Cambridgeshire) defended Ms Savage’s approach to the Bill, adding: “She did receive commitments which will enable us to move forward, not at the pace we want but together and I’m very, very worried about the way in which she’s undermining the efforts that have been made to take this forward.”
Ms Savage later told Ms Denyer: “I very much believe we do need to have cross-party consensus with this so I have been willing and, in fact, eager to have conversations with the Government on this.
“I have been an environmental campaigner for the last 20 years, I have tried the placard waving, I have marched in the streets, that absolutely has an important role to play, but there is a reason I chose to come to this place and that is to take the policy approach.
“And as a third party the only way we can do that is by working with government.”
MPs voted 120 to seven, majority 113, in favour of a motion to adjourn debate on the Bill.
The debate was relisted for July 11 but it is unlikely to be considered further.
Labour MP Clive Lewis (Norwich South) earlier told the debate: “If we want to have a sustainable economy, a sustainable biodiversity, if we want to actually protect nature, do what’s right, to ensure future generations have something to live in and have food security, water security, then we need to make sure that this Bill or something like it becomes law and we need to make sure that we on this side do the right thing when it comes to climate and nature and what our constituents want to see.”
Environment minister Mary Creagh referred to her experience introducing a private member’s bill as a new MP, saying there is a “very steep learning curve” and there is “much to learn around this process”.
She said: “I withdrew my Bill because I knew that the government was going to do something later that was going to implement the things that I wanted to do.”
Liberal Democrat MP for Bicester and Woodstock, Calum Miller, asked for assurance there would be “meaningful change in the Government’s approach”, and “binding commitments on the nature side”.
Ms Creagh said she would give her assurances, adding “one thing I want to make absolutely clear is this is a long-standing problem”.
She added: “We are proud to have set these legally binding targets through the Climate Change Act to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. We are committed to 13 legally binding targets under the Environment Act, and halting the decline in species by 2030 is certainly very ambitious.”
Ms Creagh further stated: “While we’re under no illusions about the scale and urgency of the challenge, we are confident it can, it must, it will be done. And can I just say we will create a safer, more secure, sustainable and more prosperous future.”
