It is unconscionable that the Crown Estate should be profiting from the factory farming of salmon. It is clear that the current rules for the Crown Estate are not good; they are not good enough for the environment or for animal welfare, they are not working to protect to salmon populations from this toxic industry. Continue reading “Crown Estate Bill Report Stage”
This last weekend I joined tens of thousands of people marching for clean water in London Continue reading “Water Bill Committee Stage Day 3”
If I look at this from a completely different perspective, possibly from the perspective of the previous Government, it was a remarkable success story over 14 years because we had huge growth in sewage and pollution and it had a multiplier impact on gross national product. Growth is not an indicator of happiness or of the economy being run for the benefit of many. It is a nonsense soundbite for the economically illiterate and needs to be deleted from this legislation Continue reading “Water Bill Committee Stage Day 2”
The Minister and their civil servants clearly hadn’t read the new research papers as they replied that “They do not represent a significant update to the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)” Continue reading “My Q to HMG on AMOC collapse”
My amendment to require representatives of employees and the public to sit on the boards of water companies Continue reading “Water Bill Committee Stage Day 1”
Yesterday I asked HMG whether they plan to implement the Climate Change Committee’s recommendation to pause permission for new incineration plants to allow for a review of the treatment of residual waste following their deeply irresponsible decision to allow the Portland incinerator to go ahead Continue reading “My Topical Oral Question on Incineration”
The Church of England needs to exercise its proper leadership role as the established church to help our country mitigate the worst aspects of future climate change by committing to rewild at least 10% (i.e., the Biblical tithe) of its land by 2030. Continue reading “Wild Card’s Rewild the Church campaign”
The fact is that electric vehicles will not help with climate change emissions unless all those charging points are run from renewable energy. Electric vehicles will not completely cut roadside pollution. They will not, for example, cut the particulates coming off tyres and brakes, which is quite a big factor in air pollution. Electric vehicles will not stop congestion or cut the number of people killed or injured on our roads—the statistics are horrifying at the moment. There are also environmental trade-offs. Building any car takes raw materials, sometimes toxic materials, and adds to the planetary burden that we humans create. Continue reading “Electric Vehicle Strategy”
I will bring forward amendments to ensure that this Bill does not simply allow these failed zombie companies to continue extracting bill payers’ cash while loading huge amounts of debt on to the balance sheet. The Government need a serious look at the opportunity to bring these companies into public ownership, and this Bill should give Ministers the option to nationalise these companies where it makes sense. Continue reading “Water (Special Measures) Bill [HL] Second Reading”
Privatisation of rail has given us higher fares and generated a fat profit for all the state-owned German and French rail companies, which took advantage of UK taxpayers. I congratulate Labour on bringing this to an end. But why not end the disastrous mistake of water privatisation that will cost £12.5 billion in this Parliament alone, only to pay shareholders and creditors, but which will still result in waterways full of faeces, agricultural run-off, other chemicals, drugs, paint, bleach and plastic? If water companies collapsed, we could buy them for pennies and run them ourselves. Continue reading “Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill Second Reading”
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb 