Lewes MP and Lib Dem Shadow Environment Secretary, Norman Baker has today called upon the Government to hold an annual debate in the House of Commons on the environment. He made the call opening the day's main debate, on the State of the Environment as part of the Lib Dem Opposition Day in the House of Commons. The motion calling for an annual debate also drew attention to pressing environmental issues facing the planet such as climate change and species extinction, and urged the Government to take more action on issues such as renewable fuels, waste disposal and transport.
Leading for the Lib Dems in the debate, Norman said: "The House [of Commons] has not held a full debate on the environment for a long time. The last such debate was on 15 May 2002 and, as on this occasion, it was on a Liberal Democrat motion... Since then, there has been no debate on the environment in Government time... In Parliament, we need to give the environment the focus it deserves, and the present ad hoc arrangements are not delivering that. That is why our motion suggests that the House should hold an annual debate on the environment. If the Government do not give the lead and facilitate that, then Liberal Democrat Members will."
In response the Environment Minister, Elliot Morley assured MPs that the Government was taking the Environment seriously and highlighted the progress made in several areas. However, he also admitted that "there is much still to do".
Speaking after the debate, Norman comments:
"The main indicators suggest that the Government is losing a grip on the environment: in transport, road traffic is rising dramatically and forecast to grow by between 20 to 25% by 2010 and damaging carbon emissions from aviation are predicted to double from those in 1990 by 2010. In energy, progress on renewable energy sources is poor yet our domestic energy consumption continues to rise - up by 7% since 1997. Only 2.5% of our electricity is generated from renewable sources and still our nuclear waste pile grows at an alarming rate, with the amount of intermediate-level waste set to almost double by 2030. "Sadly, the environment has never quickened the pulse of Tony Blair. If his Government wish to be regarded as a good and green Government it's about time they started taking more action to resolve some of the pressing environmental concerns that this world is facing."
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