Toxic Environment

Ministers who proclaimed to the public that dispensing with air quality regulations would not lead to a decline in air quality may possibly have been saying the thing that was not. The existing rules were imposed by Strasbrussels Diktat and place actual obligations on the Secretary of State for the Environment to protect the environment, and are therefore to be stripped of their legality and deported to Rwanda at the end of the year. Thérèse Coffey, the macabre whoopee-cushion in nominal charge of the process, was advised by her officials to carry out a public consultation, but instead simply signed off on the option which would not oblige Thérèse Coffey to do an honest day's work now and then. The officials had warned that this option would diminish the Government's ability to track progress on emissions targets or take action in the event of targets being missed; which doubtless had much the same effect as warning a British Home Secretary about a risk of looking excessively tough on immigration. Subsequently Coffey stated that there would be no reduction in environmental protection levels and, more candidly, that the Government "uses" expert advice with regard to rolling back the green crap; which at least demonstrates that her recent excretion from the Cabinet did not come about through any violation of prevailing standards of integrity, professionalism and accountability.