Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 22 December 2020
The need to get the bill right has been a big weight on members’ shoulders. There is a real sense of loss as we fully exit the EU, and there is a risk that hard-won protections and built-in solidarity with other European nations could disappear. That pressure has resulted in strong cross-party working across the chamber, with members uniting against the economic and environmental vandalism of the Tory party.
We can see that in the amendments that were debated earlier today, and particularly those on keeping pace. I hope that those amendments will ensure that Scotland stays on a parallel path to the progressive path in the rest of Europe. However, keeping that alignment will need a big collective effort, particularly between Government, stakeholders and the new body, environmental standards Scotland. I ask the cabinet secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, to clarify in her closing comments the role of ESS in relation to the section 1 powers on keeping pace. Will advice be sought from ESS and will it have a role in monitoring the progressive policies that are being developed in Europe and then applying those to Scotland?
I would like to thank Claudia Beamish, in particular. We have shared a lot of head space throughout stages 2 and 3, and I welcome the fact that the Government has shifted on much of the agenda that we had in the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee.
Although there are still weaknesses in the bill, a lot of progress has been made. Originally, there was no requirement for the environmental principles to be fully integrated into policy making, but that has been fixed this afternoon. There was no commitment to deliver a high level of environmental protection, but that has now been enshrined in the environmental strategy. In addition, there was no commitment to put the environmental strategy on a statutory footing, with enforceable targets. I regret the fact that the enforceable targets are not included in the bill, but the strategy is, and that gives us the leverage to have discussions with the Government about how we can ensure that time-bound action is taken to tackle the nature emergency.
The bill will give rise to a new watchdog, environmental standards Scotland, which will provide some of the oversight and enforcement that we will lose from the European Commission in nine days’ time. At stage 2, I argued that it would have been preferable for ESS to have been set up as a fully independent commission. Although that option was rejected, the new body is starting to look and feel more like a commission as a result of amendments that have been agreed to today.
In particular, I welcome the fact that the need for the new body to be financially independent has been recognised by the Government. ESS must have full confidence that, whatever action it needs to take, it will have the capacity to deliver. In the past, public bodies have arguably been hamstrung by concerns about the cost of their decisions being the subject of legal challenge. For years, Scottish Natural Heritage seemed unable to exercise its powers over deer management for fear of costly legal challenge. When ESS takes action, it will have the force of the bill behind it, which means that it will be provided with whatever resources it needs to get the job done.
There is much work for ESS to do. I hope that the current complaint to the European Commission about the use of acoustic deterrents, which are filling our seas with noise pollution, will be at the top of the list. With the Government consulting on a new air quality strategy, the importance of not just setting but meeting European standards will be critical to our lung health in a Covid-scarred population.
Some say that it is Parliament’s role to hold the Government’s feet to the fire on climate change, but short of burning committee reports, I cannot see how that can be done by Parliament alone. Parliament needs a strong watchdog with an enforcement role in relation to climate, and that is what it now has.
We stand on the Brexit cliff edge, but the bill will anchor the most critical tools that we need to stay aligned with a European Union that Scotland voted to remain part of and which we will one day rejoin.