New regulator to see that targets are met

Scientists for Extinction Rebellion make a declaration at the junction of Moorgate and Lothbury Extinction Rebellion has been criticised for comparing activists who stood on top of London Tube trains with civil rights activist Rosa Parks.

In a now-deleted tweet, the XR Twitter account wrote: “Rosa Parks refused to move from the white section of the bus and our rebels refused to bequeath a dying planet to future generations”, provoking outcry, with many criticising the comparison during Black History Month. A new regulator will hold the UK Government to account on its green targets, Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers has told MPs.

The government’s new Environment Bill, which will go before the Commons next Wednesday, will include plans to set up a new Office for Environmental Protection.

During a debate on the Queen’s Speech, Ms Villiers Doctors gathered in support of Extinction Rebellion said the Bill also aims to cut down on single-use plastics and increase recycling.

She said: “Our Bill will mandate the setting of ambitious targets and these targets will be rooted in science.

“A powerful independent watchdog will be created to hold the government to account on meeting the targets we set.

“From a free-to-use complaints system, to the authority to instigate and undertake investigations, to the power to take the government to court.”

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas said that there was a “major loophole” in the Bill however, as it gave the government “nearly two decades to meet” legallybinding environmental targets.

She said: “It’s all very well to set them by 2022, but to have 15 years before you have to meet them seems to be absurd.”

Ms Villiers replied: “I can provide reassurance by drawing your attention to Clause 10 which provides for interim targets.”