EAC Chair welcomes plans for carbon budget scrutiny

“As I made clear to the Prime Minister at the Liaison Committee today, the Net Zero transition is the largest strategic endeavour across Government since the Industrial Revolution.

Meeting our environmental commitments will require focus, drive and most importantly, collaboration across Government over decades. Allowing these crucial issues to be characterised in the realm of partisan politics risks undermining hard-won cross-party consensus.

Parliament will play a critical role in delivering that consensus. But I agree with the Prime Minister that 17 minutes of debate held on the last Carbon Budget – a plan that will have a real impact on communities across the UK – is simply not enough.

Open debate and scrutiny of both the ambition contained in the plan, and the practical path to get there, can only move us forward on our journey to net zero. I welcome the commitments given by the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero today to publish a draft 7th carbon budget delivery plan for scrutiny.

I expect the Environmental Audit Committee in the new Parliament will wish to lead meaningful and constructive scrutiny of the Government’s plans, holding it to account on one of the most profound policy challenges of our times.”

Further information

• Environmental Audit Committee
• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees

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