Michael Gove defends plans to weaken water pollution protections as he rips up rules on housebuilding– UK politics live | Politics

Rishi Sunak has defended his government’s green credentials, as environmental campaigners criticised the scrapping of nutrient neutrality rules aimed at limiting nitrogen and phosphorus in waterways.

It is the latest government policy that has drawn the ire of campaigners, but Sunak said he wanted to reach net zero in a way that does not hurt struggling households, PA Media reported.

“Of course we want to get to net zero, but we just want to do that in a proportionate and pragmatic way that does not unnecessarily burden families and households in the process. We have got a proud track record on tackling climate change, we have reduced our emissions faster than pretty much any developed country,” he told broadcasters.

Referencing recent government investment in carbon capture technology, as well as the Plan for Water, the Prime Minister said:

We are taking strong steps to protect our environment, reduce our emissions but do that in a proportionate and pragmatic way that protects families too.

Police chiefs have suggested the home secretary is interfering with their operational independence by demanding forces pursue all reasonable crime leads at a time when their resources are being outstripped by a rise in offences.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) raised serious doubts about an initiative Suella Braverman used to launch the government’s crime week with insistence that there was “no such thing as minor crime”.

Braverman instructed forces to follow all evidence such as footage from CCTV, doorbells and dashcams, as well as phone data, to find a suspect or stolen property.

The NPCC responded to the plan in an open letter to Braverman, which pointedly began: “For decades, police forces have had a duty to pursue all reasonable leads of an alleged crime.”

On Monday, Braverman said forces had the resources to pursue all reasonable leads, and pointed to the government’s restoration of 20,000 officers that were cut between 2010 and 2018.

However, the letter by the NPCC chair, chief constable Gavin Stephens, suggested her plan was unrealistic given the squeeze on police funding at a time of rising crime.

“To see trust in police return to where it used to be, an effectively staffed and properly funded police service is essential,” the letter said.

Scrapping EU-era environmental protections on nutrient neutrality will allow for an additional 100,000 homes to be built in England by 2030, the government has claimed.

Environmental campaigners have criticised the planned change, but the government says housing developments contribute only a small fraction of nutrient pollution and new funding is being provided to mitigate any associated increase. The changes will see the financial burden to mitigate nutrient pollution for new housing shifted from developers to taxpayers, PA Media reports.

The government says it intends to work with the house building industry to ensure that larger developers make what it describes as an appropriate and fair contribution to the scheme over the coming years. No detail on that has been announced, but the government said it is discussing how to do so with the Home Builders Federation.

The government said it would double investment in its nutrient mitigation scheme, being run by Natural England, to £280 million. And an additional £166 million will be allocated for slurry infrastructure grants.

The government describes nutrient pollution as an “urgent problem” for freshwater habitats, many of which it says are “internationally important for wildlife, and acknowledges it needs to tackle the issue to meet legal commitments to restore species abundance.

Housing secretary Michael Gove said:

We are committed to building the homes this country needs and to enhancing our environment. The way EU rules have been applied has held us back. These changes will provide a multibillion-pound boost for the UK economy and see us build more than 100,000 new homes.

Protecting the environment is paramount which is why the measures we’re announcing today will allow us to go further to protect and restore our precious waterways whilst still building the much-needed homes this country needs.

We will work closely with environmental agencies and councils as we deliver these changes.

Environment secretary Therese Coffey said:

These new plans will cut nutrients and help support England’s precious habitats whilst unlocking the new homes that local communities need.

We are going to tackle the key causes of nutrients at source with over £200 million of funding to reduce run-off from agriculture and plans to upgrade waste water treatment works through conventional upgrades, catchment approaches and nature-based solutions.

This builds on the key commitments made in our five-year strategy – our Environmental Improvement Plan – as well as our Plan for Water which brings forward more investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement to protect our rivers.

Housebuilders have welcomed the plans but Greenpeace UK has criticised them, saying it allows builders to “cut corners”.

The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, will visit China tomorrow as part of efforts to ease tensions between the west and Beijing.

He will hold talks with China’s foreign affairs minister, Wang Yi, and the vice-president, Han Zheng, PA Media reported.

The UK believes that engagement with Xi Jinping’s administration is essential given its important economic and political influence around the world.

Cleverly has promised he will raise concerns over human rights and the treatment of Hong Kong during his trip.

And he will argue that with China’s global significance comes a responsibility for international security: helping to end Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, calming tensions in the South China Sea and ceasing malign activity in cyberspace.

Cleverly said:

It is important we manage our relationship with China across a range of issues.

No significant global problem – from climate change to pandemic prevention, from economic instability to nuclear proliferation – can be solved without China.

China’s size, history and global significance means they cannot be ignored, but that comes with a responsibility on the global stage.

That responsibility means China fulfilling its international commitments and obligations.

Cleverly follows in the footsteps of his US counterpart, Antony Blinken, who visited Beijing in June, and his trip will be the first by a UK foreign secretary since 2018.

Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog. We start with news that Michael Gove is planning to rip up water pollution rules that builders have blamed for exacerbating England’s housing crisis but which environmental groups say are essential for protecting the country’s rivers.

The housing secretary, with Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary, will announce the move on Tuesday, according to several people briefed on the plans, alongside hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of extra funding to mitigate the potential impact on England’s waterways.

The decision will spark anger among environmentalists, who say it will further add to water pollution, as water companies are already dumping raw sewage into rivers and seas. Political advisers say water pollution has already become a major political issue in coastal areas, and has the potential to cost the Conservatives important seats at the next election.

Doug Parr, policy director at Greenpeace UK, said:

Who would look at our sickly, sewage-infested rivers and conclude that what they need is weaker pollution rules? No one, and that should include our government.

Scrapping or weakening limits on chemicals from sewage and farm runoffs would be a sure sign that ministers have completely given up on saving our great waterways and the precious wildlife they host.

Meanwhile, Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrats’ environmental spokesperson, said:

Not content with the levels of pollution in our rivers already, scrapping nutrient neutrality is a disgraceful act from the government. The Conservatives seem happy for Britain’s rivers to get even worse.

We’ll bring you more on that throughout the day, with the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, expected to speak to the media on a visit later this morning.

Elsewhere, there is continued chatter about the Mid Bedfordshire byelection following Nadine Dorries’ long-awaited resignation, and the government is also expected to confirm it is delaying post-Brexit border checks on food coming from the EU later today. Stay tuned.