Climate and nature bill falls as MPs vote to end debate

A proposed law to force Britain to meet new legally binding targets on climate change and protecting nature has failed to clear its first hurdle in the House of Commons.

The government won the motion to end debate on the bill by 120 votes to seven, meaning it will not return to the House of Commons until July and is unlikely to become law.

The Climate and Nature Bill was proposed by Liberal Democrat MP Rose Savage, who although said she would not press for a vote on the bill, agreed to work with ministers to find a way forward.

Green Party leader Carla Denyer said she was “disappointed” with the agreement and urged the government to “give us real commitments”.

Denyer told MPs that Savage had agreed not to press for a vote, saying, “It just looks like it’s just for a meeting with the Secretary of State for Energy and Net Zero… an agreement to work together.” Together, but without any specific commitment”.

In response, Savage said that she had been an environmental campaigner for 20 years and had “tried placard waving” but now wanted to “take a policy approach”.

“As a third party, the only way we can do this is to work with the government.”

A group of environmental campaigners – including TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – gathered outside Parliament ahead of the debate.

Fearnley-Whittingstall told the BBC that she had heard “really worrying noises that the government is backing down” on support for the bill and that some Labor MPs were under pressure to reject the motion.

A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The UK already has a well-developed legislative framework with legally binding targets, including the Climate Change Act 2008 and the carbon budget.”

During the debate, Environment Minister Mary Craig said the government took its targets “very, very seriously”.

The bill would require the Environment Secretary to create and implement a strategy with annual targets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and reverse the degradation of nature.

The strategy will be developed in collaboration with a citizens’ assembly – a group made up of members of the public.

The bill also called for a more joint approach between tackling climate change and nature loss.

Savage acknowledged that the UK has already signed “various international commitments”, but said his bill aimed to “bring together what is required and what has been promised, and what has been promised and what is actually happening”. The ambition is to reduce the gap between.

Before becoming an MP, Savage sailed in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans to raise awareness of marine pollution.

He said that during his travels he learned the power of nature, adding, “There are the laws of man and there are the laws of nature. Whether the Bill makes it a human law or not, certainly the laws of nature will ultimately prevail.”

Labor MP Clive Lewis expressed his support for the bill and also took a dig at Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who earlier this week signaled her intention to to support expansion At Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

Lewis said airport expansion would be “the wrong direction” and argued that economic growth could not be prioritized over environmental protection.

“You can’t develop on a dead planet… You can’t have a viable economy unless your country’s climate and nature, your economy, are working together.”

The bill also had the support of two Conservative backbenchers, Sir Roger Gale and Simon Hoare.

However, the party’s frontbench spokesperson Andrew Bowie opposed this, objecting in particular to the role of the Citizens’ Assembly.

He said that a government minister would be “legally bound” to follow the proposals of “unelected and unaccountable” members of the Assembly.

“That’s not the way decisions are made in this country, and that’s not the way decisions should be made in this country.”

Bowie said his party wanted to “reduce our carbon footprint” and “pave the way for other countries”, but it had to be a path “they would actually want to follow”.

“If the bill means green tariffs, rising bills, the highest electricity prices in the world, boiler taxes, job losses and denying our ability to produce fuel domestically, while increasing imports from abroad and resulting in lower taxes If you want to generate revenue, no one will follow this path.