MPs fear red tape bonfire may be bad for health

The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) raised concerns the Treasury saw the environment merely as a cost or block to economic development, and warned the move to reduce more than 10,000 pages of regulations to help businesses to comply with environmental laws should not throw out sensible rules “in a desperate dash for growth.”

Ministers also appeared to be putting little priority on moving to a “green economy” and have failed to set out a long term vision to making the UK economy more sustainable, the MPs said.

They said the whole economy needed to be green, as current patterns of growth were unsustainable, and traditional sectors would need to be transformed. The Government has placed no new requirements on businesses to be more environmentally sustainable, instead favouring a market-led approach focused on voluntary action and relying on consumer demand to drive green growth.

But the latest report from the EAC warned that this approach will not work, and urged Ministers to introduce measures including mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions by big businesses, which the Government has delayed bringing in.

Two years ago the Prime Minister pledged to lead the greenest government ever.