Biodiversity

This Government are putting the largest budget ever towards nature restoration, with more than £7 billion announced in the spending review. We have taken targeted action, including licensing the first wild beaver release since their extinction 400 years ago.

Fourteen years of Conservative government have left the UK as one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, undermining our economy and food systems. I welcome the Government’s recent actions to reverse this, including the new guidance to protect bees from pesticides and the introduction of legislation to help protect two thirds of the world’s oceans. Does the Minister agree that where the Conservatives have failed, this Government will take action at every level to protect nature and biodiversity for future generations?

I do agree. I know that my hon. Friend is a great champion on air quality in his constituency. While the Conservatives have pledged to scrap the Climate Change Act 2008 in the face of protest from business groups, scientists and even their former Prime Minister Theresa May, this Government will tackle the climate and nature crisis. I will be travelling to COP30 in Brazil in a couple of days, where I will discuss how we will embed nature into every element of climate action to tackle global nature loss on land and in the ocean.

This afternoon, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will return to the Commons. I share the concern of many of my that the Bill seeks to rip up environmental rules to boost growth. Will the Minister urge her colleagues at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to support Lords amendment 113, to ensure that development is balanced with protection for nature?

I thank the hon. Lady for campaigning on climate and nature issues, in stark contrast with the Conservatives. I know that she will raise this issue during today’s debate. The nature restoration fund, which is a key plank of the Bill, will improve outcomes for nature, while unlocking the housing and infrastructure that this country urgently needs.