Newly released correspondence has raised questions about Environment Secretary Steve Barclay’s involvement in a temporary government ban on new incinerators affecting a plant being developed in his constituency. Mr Barclay had promised to fight the plant in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. An order to stop granting new permits was imposed by Sir Mark Spencer, a junior minister in Mr Barclay’s department. The pause on all permits came “out of the blue,” say sources.
A letter published shows that a similar ban had been proposed by junior environment minister Robbie Moore a month earlier. Mr Moore wrote to the Environment Agency stating he intended to stop it issuing new permits for up to a year. He gave them 24 hours to respond, and the ban did not go ahead. The government’s internal legal advice said it would be “unlawful.”
Mr Barclay has not said on what date he formally stepped back from decisions about permits. He had previously told MPs that he had “delegated” the policy to another minister, which he thought was enough, but realised later that he “required a formal recusal.” Labour said the correspondence raised concerns that Mr Barclay had abused his position and “colluded” with junior ministers to cover it up.
A spokesman for the environment department did not respond to Labour’s accusations but said it had temporarily paused permits while it “rightly” considered the need for more waste incinerators. Sir Mark Spencer imposed the temporary ban after fresh exchanges with the Environment Agency. In a letter to its chief executive, Sir Mark said he was “wary of committing” to giving more plants the go-ahead until officials had done more work “to consider whether there is a greater role for government to encourage investment in waste prevention”, such as recycling
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