#UK ‘used to be a leader on #climate’, lament European lawmakers
MEPs react to ‘tragic’ findings revealing UK falling behind #EU in key environmental policies since #Brexit
Since Brexit, the UK has weakened its #environment rules in key policy areas, from chemicals to climate. Among other measures, the EU has done more than the UK to ban harmful pesticides and substances, tax carbon emissions on imported goods, regulate batteries, and clean the air.
The two economies are expected to grow further apart in environmental ambition as the EU brings in new rules on industrial emissions, outdoor air quality, critical raw materials, water treatment, and electrical waste recycling.
Irish MEP with the Green group Grace O’Sullivan highlighted the UK’s worsening #water quality standards as a “particularly troubling” example of #divergence. “In Ireland, where previous governments have failed to prioritise the environment, EU legislation like this was instrumental in obliging the government to act to protect its own people from poor water treatment practices.”
She added: “Both British and Irish people will bear the brunt of the UK government’s poor environmental record, as the recent collapse in water quality in Northern Ireland’s Lough Neagh demonstrated.”