Ministers openly admit they don’t know what’s going on with much of the legislation, but those who remain in government are working with skeleton teams to whip the bills into shape. Two ministers at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have resigned so far, Rebecca Pow and Jo Churchill, who were both working on environment legislation moving through parliament. Churchill resigned on Wednesday, but on Thursday she was supposed to be in committees on a gene-editing bill that would loosen rules on genetic modification for crops and potentially animals. The Guardian said this has now been passed to minister Victoria Prendi, who has not resigned. Prendi says she believes it is her duty to stay in government and pass the bills, rather than resign. Sources close to her say those remaining at Defra are “business as usual” because “the environment cannot wait until October”, when Boris Johnson’s allies have suggested he should remain prime minister until. Bills experts are particularly concerned about include the environmental land management system, which has faced criticism from the Tory right as well as Labor and the Lib Dems. This legislation will reward farmers for conservation and Defra sources say net zero will not be achieved without this new subsidy system. Other, newer bills under threat include the Highly Protected Marine Areas consultation, which would ban all fishing in certain fragile ecosystems in England’s seas. This work was under the remit of Pow and is only in consultation phase. It is not popular with many in the fishing industry and could be discarded. The other departments are also in turmoil. After Michael Gove was sacked as growth secretary, he was replaced by Greg Clark. Clark is now tasked with deciding on the proposed Whitehaven colliery in Cumbria, but has not worked in the department for years. On Thursday, the government also announced it was postponing for a second time a decision on whether to approve the £20bn Sizewell C nuclear power station in Suffolk. The leveling bill is also coming soon and campaigners say the legislation contains a number of threats to the ability of communities to demand higher environmental protection and standards in the planning system, overrides key environmental rules and fails to align plans with climate law . The Finance Ministry, with its new chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, is set to decide whether to go ahead with a windfall tax on oil and gas companies. A decision on that is expected next week, and while it is a popular measure with voters, it is not known whether Zahawi will go ahead with it and remove the loophole that would have provided tax breaks for new oil and gas. There could also be a wait of some time for a government response to the fracking review. The British Geological Survey has given its report on the safety and feasibility of fracking to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), but the results will not be seen until the government responds to it, with BEIS sources saying they have not they are doing it. know when it will be. BEIS will also have to tackle the cost of living and energy crises, with insulation measures and immediate support for the poorest households an urgent priority. The Energy Security Bill is also coming, with an opportunity to overhaul the energy market so that low-cost renewable electricity feeds consumers. Police chief Alok Sharma has not resigned, but he is drawing on the talents of a much-reduced cabinet and a government in disarray. The UK still holds the presidency until Cop27 in November and the government has yet to decide on the formal emissions reduction commitments to be made. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Additionally, a ruling on a judicial review of the net zero strategy is expected this month. Depending on what it finds, it can add even more work to the input trays of the rest of the environment group. Greenpeace UK policy director Doug Parr said: “No matter how bad things may look in Westminster at the moment, when it comes to the climate crisis things risk getting much worse without immediate action. However, delays in deciding whether or not to retreat from coal and build a new mine, or waste untold time and money on a new nuclear plant that will only distract from genuine energy solutions, could considered positive if they were determined. to be given the green light as the rumors say. “This parliamentary reset must deliver a new Prime Minister who will take bolder action on climate and nature. They need to invest in real solutions like cheap, clean, home renewable energy and fix the huge number of cold, damp and energy wasting homes. If not, we may waste even more time and find ourselves in a much worse position than we already are.”
