Hansard

The scourge of Brexit creates a distraction from working on Covid-related matters, net zero and other issues about the future of Scotland. It is very time consuming and a real frustration in committee work. However, we have an obligation to ensure that the arrangements are the best that they can be for the future of our environment and that we have as seamless a transition as possible. Scottish Labour is clear that future regulation should be as closely aligned to that of the EU as possible, for the sake of our environment, workers and businesses, and for good trade.

As the ECCLR Committee convener outlined, the committee decided not to make a recommendation in relation to the UK Environment Bill LCM. That was a clear expression of our concern, which was principally about the possible impact on and threats and risks to the devolved settlement. There was a significant amount of correspondence between the committee, of which I am a member, and the Scottish Government on the LCM and the risks that it poses. I was reassured by the Scottish Government’s robust response to our report. As the cabinet secretary has stressed today and in the response to our report, no power is being given away. Nothing can be done without the Scottish ministers’ consent.

I welcome the protocol and the revisions to it, and the cabinet secretary’s remarks on that today. In that context, the committee intends to feed into the proposed six-month review of the revised protocol in relation to the Scottish Parliament’s consideration of the Scottish Government’s consent to UK statutory instruments in devolved competence. We will pursue that, or it will be pursued by the environment committee in the next session of Parliament.

The committee agreed to ask the Scottish Government for an update on all relevant common frameworks. The cabinet secretary has made clear the concerns of the committee and the Government to the UK Government, so it is disappointing that we have not heard back from the secretary of state on that.

I thank stakeholders who responded to the committee’s call for evidence on the LCM. In its submission, Scottish Environment LINK refers to the office for environmental protection arrangements and asks how the proposed arrangements for our environmental watchdog will fit with those. It says:

“We urge the Scottish Government to bring these forward as soon as possible as a priority.”

It is very reassuring that the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Bill, which will give us the new watchdog body environmental standards Scotland, is moving forward at pace.

The committee has been scrutinising and commenting on the on-going development of the REACH chemical regulation. In its response to the committee on the LCM, the Chemical Industries Association states:

“On the basis of current plans, without a mechanism, or even a commitment, to align with EU restrictions and authorisations, the UK regime will inevitably diverge from the EU. This could result in the UK becoming the new ‘dirty man of Europe’ and a dumping ground for hazardous chemicals banned or restricted in the EU.”

The UK Government should take note of those remarks. The committee further explored the issue earlier this week. Surely there must be alignment with the EU on such a serious arrangement.

The committee is also reassured by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s response to our call for evidence, which showed a high degree of communication with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the development of future arrangements on water, air quality and other devolved responsibilities, and on the line of delineation between SEPA and the office for environmental protection.

Now that I have highlighted those points and identified, along with the convener, some of the concerns that the ECCLR Committee has set out, I can say that Scottish Labour will reluctantly support the UK Environment Bill LCM today. We will scrutinise—as will the committee, I am sure—the progress that is made to ensure that it is suitable in protecting our devolution settlement and enabling Scottish Government ministers to act appropriately in the devolved settlement.