Speeches by Hardy.

“I want to stress that although that is the legal process for entering special administration, that does not mean for one second that we are satisfied with the performance of the company as a whole. But there is a wealth of difference between the court-sanctioned process of going into special administration and the Gove…”

“Water is devolved, and I completely respect the autonomy of the Scottish Parliament to make those decisions. The Government have been clear that we are not looking at nationalisation, simply because of the cost, the time it would take and the legal complications. My focus is quite simply on what I can do to improve the…”

“This is the marine spatial prioritisation. We meet The Crown Estate. The Crown Estate of course is responsible for leasing the seabed and determining what goes where. We are having those conversations with different Ministers from different Departments along with The Crown Estate to look at what we are putting where. W…”

“As I say, our priority is to go through, looking at MSP, marine spatial prioritisation, and then, as I announced in my written statement around the Marine Recovery Fund, we want to help unlock growth. It is a priority for the Government. It is one of the five priorities for the Government so, clearly, it is a priority …”

“They were right to make those criticisms in the past—absolutely. I hope they would say that they can see we are trying to take a different approach. It has been the case—and it has been the case for a long time—that there has not been a strategic plan. I hope they would recognise we have come in as a new Government and…”

“I love this—this is really exciting. We are as the UK part of the high ambition coalition. We were not internationally able to negotiate the final treaty, so negotiations will be happening again this year, but that was not for the lack of UK passion, involvement and commitment. The DEFRA team—to use a non-ministerial w…”

“I have to apologise if I am slightly mindful about how I talk about negotiations that are going on in the background, so apologies for that. Conversations are happening with other countries where we have allegiances and alliances, and those conversations are going on at the moment. I suppose, as you would ahead of any …”

“If I had not got rid of my Twitter account, I would have retweeted it myself, too. It goes back to the conversation we were having about when we can get the stage 3 byelaws passed. We are committed to not having bottom trawling in areas that damage the MPAs, especially when they are attached to features that we are try…”

“No. The policy has not changed. The delay is on making sure that I am making the right decision and that I have all the evidence required to make the best decision. I would rather spend a bit longer—a few more months—doing that than make a decision that I regret later on.”

“I am Emma Hardy. I am the Minister for Water and Flooding, but I also have responsibilities for the ocean, chemicals, and pesticides.”

“This is all about our plans to deliver on the Government’s mission for clean power. As you know, one of the most important missions the Government have is to deliver on clean power and one of the things we wanted to look at in terms of marine designation or MPA designation is also whether they are in the right place an…”

“There are different types of marine protected areas. Some were protecting migratory species, seals, harbour porpoises and various others. Some are protecting seabirds. Some are protecting habitats and species and then there are the HPMAs. Different MPAs are there for different reasons. Yes, some of it is about making s…”

“In terms of the marine spatial prioritisation, no, because we have a huge ambition on what we want to deliver on clean energy. This means we will ramp up what we do in terms of offshore wind. It was not done before, under the previous Government, that they had that strategic look at how we use our seas, where we put th…”

“We have not de-designated any MPAs at the moment. That has not happened. We are doing a review to, as I say, make sure they are in the right place for the right feature that they want to protect. As I have mentioned, there are diverse types of marine protected areas, some of them, as I say, protecting seabirds, some pr…”

“You are absolutely right to point out that more needs to be done in terms of protecting MPAs. I completely and utterly agree with you. We are taking more action on this. I am not sure if the MMO mentioned some of the enforcement action that is going on at the moment. We have issued 28 notices on five investigations tha…”

“I hope, if nothing else comes out of me coming here today, that I can offer some reassurance and calm any nerves that people might have on this. This Government are utterly committed to 30 by 30. We are utterly committed to enforcing responsibilities under the Environment Act. This is not a regressive Government. We ar…”

“Thanks so much for your question. As I have mentioned, one thing that the MMO is looking at is licensing. One other thing we are looking at, which is quite exciting, is different technology—looking at drones and how we can investigate and protect what we already have. There have been consultations done on future byelaw…”

“As I mentioned, different MPAs are designated feature by feature. The action being taken depends on the feature that they are protecting. If it is an MPA that is designated for protecting seabirds, the enforcement would be different from if it is protecting the seabed. It will depend on the type of feature that is unde…”

“With respect to Chagos, I will defer to the Minister from the FCDO.”

“I am more than happy to get you the figure. Mike, would you like to add?”