Latest news with #DepartmentForEnvironment
BBC News
a day ago
- Business
- BBC News
Thames Water should be put in administration, MP says
An MP has called for Thames Water to be put into administration after a US firm pulled out of a deal to buy the struggling utilities company. Lib Dem Charlie Maynard, who represents Witney in Oxfordshire, said the government had a "big problem" after private equity giant KKR withdrew from a £4bn deal. Maynard had previously argued against a £3bn rescue deal for Thames Water, but an appeal against it was dismissed in March. Thames Water has called news of the failed bid "disappointing" but said it would proceed to work with other potential investors. Speaking to BBC Radio Oxford, Maynard said the government would now be "scrambling to try and fix" the situation. He renewed his calls from earlier in the year that the company should be put into government-supervised administration. "They should be in bankruptcy, because you can't deal with this enormous amount of debt... you've got to cut it down into something sustainable."He added: "The government is just doing anything it can to not do the fundamental thing that will actually fix it." Maynard said he was considering taking his case for putting the company into special administration to the Supreme Court. The government has previously said it is ready to take over Thames Water in the event that it cannot continue to Thames Water and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have been contacted for comment. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Times
3 days ago
- General
- Times
Respite for hares as officials back a close season for hunting
Brown hares could finally have a respite from year-round shooting after the government said it supported ambitions to introduce a close season. Unlike other game such as deer and pheasants, brown hares — the numbers of which have declined by more than 80 per cent over the past century — can be hunted all year. Last week, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said England and Wales 'stand out as being among the few European countries not to have a close season,' adding that it had failed 'to give it the protection we should'. It said it would look for 'a suitable primary legislative vehicle to deliver this close season'. Chloe Dalton, the former Foreign Office adviser who wrote the acclaimed non-fiction book Raising Hare, which is based on her experiences living with the animals in her rural home, said the absence of a close season meant hunters turned their attention to brown hares when all other game species were protected. 'The hare you can shoot at any time and commonly, because of the prohibition on shooting these other animals, such as pheasant, which you can't shoot from February 1, it is a good time for business reasons to shoot hares in February. 'So the peak shooting season for hares coincides with their breeding season, during which period most female hares are either lactating or pregnant or both. If you shoot a mother hare, her young [leverets] starve to death. It is an animal welfare issue,' she told the Hay Festival. 'It is a core principle of conservation that you don't kill an animal when it is breeding,' Dalton added. • Chloe Dalton: My father read Joseph Conrad to us at the kitchen table Brown hares are one of Britain's most extraordinary — and previously revered — species. In his account of the Gallic Wars 2,000 years ago, Julius Caesar said native Britons refused to eat the animal because it was sacred. Dalton's book outlines how brown hares are able to carry two litters of leverets simultaneously, in a process known as superfetation. They can move at 37 of their own body lengths per second, while a cheetah, the fastest land animal, can move at 23 of its body lengths per second. Dalton said: 'I think it is straightforward. We should grant to hares the same protection that we give to every other game species. Scotland already has, and most of Europe. So what happens is that they [European hunters] come over to [England and Wales] to do it.' A petition calling upon the government to protect hares and leverets from shooting during the breeding season from February 1 to September 30 has now been signed by over 20,000 people. According to the Hare Preservation Trust, there were about four million brown hares in Britain in the late 1800s. It said numbers had declined by more than 80 per cent during the past century — which it said was at least in part also due to the intensification of agriculture — and has also stated that in parts of Britain, such as the southwest, 'the brown hare is almost a rarity and may even be locally extinct'. Dalton, who was being interviewed at the Hay Festival by Lord Hague of Richmond, her former boss, who also supports the introduction of a close season, said the case should be made that the hare was 'an iconic national animal'. 'There is something about the quietly persistent, unassuming hare that speaks to who we are in this country,' Dalton said. 'I hope we can reverse these years of inattention.'
CTV News
3 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
U.K. bans single-use vapes to stem use by children and reduce harmful litter
LONDON — A ban on disposable vapes came into force across the U.K. on Sunday as the British government aims to stem their use by children, reduce litter and prevent the leaking of harmful chemicals into the environment. The ban makes it illegal for any retailer — online or in-store — to sell vapes, whether they contain nicotine or not. They will still be able to sell reusable vapes. The crackdown follows the soaring use of disposable vapes in schools and a rising tide of trash as users dispose of the vapes. It is estimated that as many as 5 million disposable vapes are thrown in bins or littered every week across the U.K., rather than being recycled. A number of countries are seeking to regulate the vape market, which has grown exponentially over the past decade or so. Australia outlawed the sale of vapes outside pharmacies last year in some of the world's toughest restrictions on electronic cigarettes, while Belgium became the first European Country to ban the use of disposable vapes at the start of this year. California has been at the forefront of bringing in new regulations in the U.S. The U.K.'s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said usage among young people remained too high, and the ban would 'put an end to their alarming rise in school playgrounds and the avalanche of rubbish flooding the nation's streets.' Also known as single-use vapes, disposable vapes are non-refillable and unable to be recharged, and are typically thrown away with general waste or just thrown on the street. Even when they are recycled, they need to be taken apart by hand, while their batteries are a fire risk to recycling facilities and can leak harmful chemicals into the environment and potentially harming wildlife. Businesses were given six months to prepare for the change by selling any existing stock. Rogue traders who continue to sell them risk a fine of 200 ($260) in the first instance, followed by an unlimited fine or jail time for repeat offending. The U.K. Vaping Industry Association said its members had moved quickly to comply with the June 1 deadline, but warned of 'serious unintended consequences' emanating from too much regulation. 'We are concerned that this ban will encourage former smokers who have already transitioned from cigarettes, which kill 220 people every day in the U.K, to return to combustible tobacco or opt for unregulated vapes,' said its director general, John Dunne. Separately, the British government is legislating to potentially restrict the packaging, marketing and flavors of e-cigarettes. Pan Pylas, The Associated Press
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
UK bans disposable vapes to stop litter, children's use
A ban on disposable vapes has come into force across the UK as the British government aims to stem their use by children, reduce litter and prevent the leaking of harmful chemicals into the environment. The ban makes it illegal for any retailer — online or in-store — to sell vapes, whether they contain nicotine or not as of Sunday. They will still be able to sell reusable vapes. The crackdown follows the soaring use of disposable vapes in schools and a rising tide of trash as users dispose of the vapes. It is estimated that as many as five million disposable vapes are thrown in bins or littered every week across the UK, rather than being recycled. A number of countries are seeking to regulate the vape market, which has grown exponentially over the past decade or so. Australia outlawed the sale of vapes outside pharmacies last year in some of the world's toughest restrictions on electronic cigarettes, while Belgium became the first European Country to ban the use of disposable vapes at the start of this year. California has been at the forefront of bringing in new regulations in the US The UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said usage among young people remained too high, and the ban would "put an end to their alarming rise in school playgrounds and the avalanche of rubbish flooding the nation's streets." Also known as single-use vapes, disposable vapes are non-refillable and unable to be recharged, and are typically thrown away with general waste or just thrown on the street. Even when they are recycled, they need to be taken apart by hand, while their batteries are a fire risk to recycling facilities and can leak harmful chemicals into the environment and potentially harming wildlife. Businesses were given six months to prepare for the change by selling any existing stock. Rogue traders who continue to sell them risk a fine of 200 pounds ($A419) in the first instance, followed by an unlimited fine or jail time for repeat offending. The UK Vaping Industry Association said its members had moved quickly to comply with the June 1 deadline, but warned of "serious unintended consequences" emanating from too much regulation. "We are concerned that this ban will encourage former smokers who have already transitioned from cigarettes, which kill 220 people every day in the UK, to return to combustible tobacco or opt for unregulated vapes," said its director general, John Dunne. Separately, the British government is legislating to potentially restrict the packaging, marketing and flavours of e-cigarettes.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
UK bans single-use vapes to stem use by children and reduce harmful litter
LONDON (AP) — A ban on disposable vapes came into force across the U.K. on Sunday as the British government aims to stem their use by children, reduce litter and prevent the leaking of harmful chemicals into the environment. The ban makes it illegal for any retailer — online or in-store — to sell vapes, whether they contain nicotine or not. They will still be able to sell reusable vapes. The crackdown follows the soaring use of disposable vapes in schools and a rising tide of trash as users dispose of the vapes. It is estimated that as many as 5 million disposable vapes are thrown in bins or littered every week across the U.K., rather than being recycled. A number of countries are seeking to regulate the vape market, which has grown exponentially over the past decade or so. Australia outlawed the sale of vapes outside pharmacies last year in some of the world's toughest restrictions on electronic cigarettes, while Belgium became the first European Country to ban the use of disposable vapes at the start of this year. California has been at the forefront of bringing in new regulations in the U.S. The U.K.'s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said usage among young people remained too high, and the ban would 'put an end to their alarming rise in school playgrounds and the avalanche of rubbish flooding the nation's streets.' Also known as single-use vapes, disposable vapes are non-refillable and unable to be recharged, and are typically thrown away with general waste or just thrown on the street. Even when they are recycled, they need to be taken apart by hand, while their batteries are a fire risk to recycling facilities and can leak harmful chemicals into the environment and potentially harming wildlife. Businesses were given six months to prepare for the change by selling any existing stock. Rogue traders who continue to sell them risk a fine of 200 ($260) in the first instance, followed by an unlimited fine or jail time for repeat offending. The U.K. Vaping Industry Association said its members had moved quickly to comply with the June 1 deadline, but warned of 'serious unintended consequences' emanating from too much regulation. 'We are concerned that this ban will encourage former smokers who have already transitioned from cigarettes, which kill 220 people every day in the U.K, to return to combustible tobacco or opt for unregulated vapes," said its director general, John Dunne. Separately, the British government is legislating to potentially restrict the packaging, marketing and flavors of e-cigarettes.
