Speeches by Gardiner.

“On how the OEP then moves on from that, it makes these recommendations. It gets, compared to this, which is the Government’s response, the flimsiest of responses. How do you move on to challenge when they have made such lackadaisical responses to the recommendations that you, as an organisation, have made?”

“If I can just try to compress or hone the recommendation that you would like to see, it would be that we should be suggesting to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs that it works with the Department for Transport to assess the impact of such future transport fuels?”

“Why were the recommendations in those august reports not taken up? You mentioned the House of Lords report on nitrogen, and “Next Steps for Nitrogen Policy”, so in effect you are telling us that these recommendations are there and the solutions are known. We might repeat them, but why have they not been taken up and ho…”

“Thank you. Ms Hawley.”

“You have answered a lot of questions about recommendations. Are there any further recommendations that you have not mentioned that you would like to see this Committee including in its report?”

“Tell us about pollinators and the impact on pollinators.”

“There is acidification, eutrophication, ground-level ozone, but I love that sound, because people understand it in a way that they do not understand O3.”

“The Prime Minister has the right to expect that his senior civil servants will always tell him the truth and the whole truth. He will recall that Mrs Thatcher used to say of Lord Young that she liked David because he always brought her solutions and not problems, while her other Ministers brought her problems. Does he …”

“I ask the Minister to reinforce the fact that those good community relations are built not simply on the toleration of the views of others but on—”

“The hate-filled attack on the Kenton synagogue in my constituency is the latest in the series of disgusting attacks on Jewish buildings that the Minister outlined. But these are more than attacks on buildings; they are calculated attacks on the whole Jewish community, designed to destabilise and instil widespread fear.…”

“It went from £225 million to £1.45 million. Given the lack of funding for this specific issue that the Government have given to local authorities, should we be making a recommendation to the Government about simply empowering or about enabling and funding local authorities to do this properly?”

“Could you say something about the consistency of local authority action in different parts of the country?”

“If we make a recommendation like that, the Government will come back and say, “Yes, but we have improved this with the eco-designed wood burners.” Pray tell us how eco those eco-designed wood burners are. Are they 450 times worse than a gas boiler? Is that what you will tell me?”

“That sounds to me suspiciously like the DEFRA consultation on domestic wood burning. Of course, it has not proposed a phase out of wood burning in urban areas, which is what you and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have proposed. It has simply proposed labelling and information. Again, crystallise this…”

“Yes, but if we were saving the billions that Professor Clift wanted to put a nought on the end of, it might pay for itself. Ms Lockwood, in written evidence to the Committee, it was noted that domestic combustion is the second largest contributor to primary PM2.5, and wood burning is a significant contributor to that. …”

“I am not against information and labelling.”

“You have a nose. You can smell them out.”

“You have got me on to my next bonnet bee. In 2020, there was £225 million for local council air quality budgets. How much was it in 2024-25? How much had that £225 million fallen to?”

“I was trying to probe the key pollutants that may be lower down the priority list. We do not have soot high on that priority list, but perhaps we should. It would be helpful if you can explain why that might be the case.”

“Sorry, Ms Legge. If the Chair allows me time, I will come to you as well. Professor Clift, you talked about the ageing process. The 2023 Imperial College study specifically talked about cognitive decline and dementia. Can you elaborate on that? That, up until recently, has not been factored into all the morbidity and e…”