Tess Colley

Climate change has been dropped as a named cabinet brief in the new Welsh ministerial line up, with nature and the environment also absent from named ministerial positions.

All environment and net zero policy will be overseen as part of the sizeable brief of Wales’ new rural resilience minister, the Welsh government has confirmed.

The prime minister has defended his government’s net zero policy following comments from former Labour prime minister, Tony Blair, that the government’s approach to North Sea oil and gas should be ripped up, and reports of a Cabinet rift on the matter.

A claim made by Reform UK that DEFRA has a policy team for “each individual species of fish” has been described as “completely false” by the government, as the right-wing populist party outlines its plans for quangos to be “scrapped” and half of all policy roles to be cut if it ever wins power.

The site of the ‘Devil’s Chimney’ in the Cotswolds has been declared a national nature reserve (NNR).

The government’s approach to planning policy risks a societal backlash due to “raised but unmet expectations”, a coalition of environmental, housing, and transport groups have warned in a letter to the prime minister.

Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is seeking election at an upcoming local by-election, in a move that would allow him to run in any future Labour leadership contest. Many reports have speculated about his ambitions, but what is his position on green issues?

The government has published draft regulations outlining how planning reforms to environmental mitigation will be implemented, including detail on “appropriate prioritisation” and the Nature Restoration Levy.

Presumptive prime minister Andy Burnham has set out his plans for the “biggest change to the way the country is run” including significant regional devolution, the biggest council housing building programme “since the post-war period”, and reform of water, energy and transport services.

A chemical factory that ENDS revealed is making products containing a banned and carcinogenic forever chemical, and allowing it to be released into the air, has proposed plans to “cease production” at the end of this year.