Nominations for the position closed yesterday (June 10) and Mr Parish was the sole candidate put forward by fellow MPs. He will replace the outgoing chair Anne McIntosh, who stood down at the last election.
A Devon-based MP, Mr Parish served as a committee member during the last parliament, and describes himself as a ‘strong voice for British farming’. He has also served on the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Beef & Lamb, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Eggs, Pig and Poultry as well as the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dairy.
Commenting on his nomination, he said: “I am very pleased to have been nominated as chair of the EFRA committee. Over the past five years, I have enjoyed being a member of the Committee and look forward to helping make sure that issues concerning our countryside, environment, flooding and food security are properly dealt with. I also look forward very much to working with parliamentary colleagues across the parties to contribute to shaping policy in those areas.”
Audit Committee
Nominations have also been received for the vacant chair of the Environmental Audit Committee – with three candidates emerging. Labour MPs Barry Gardiner, Huw Irranca-Davies and Alan Whitehead have all been nominated by colleagues to replace former chair Joan Walley.
During the last parliament the EAC was a vocal opponent of the proposed exemptions in the government’s carrier bag levy, as well as on waste policy.
Of the three candidates, both Mr Gardiner and Dr Whitehead will be familiar faces for the waste industry, with Mr Gardiner having led Labour’s recycling and waste policy brief at the last election and Dr Whitehead a founding member of the All Party Parliamentary Sustainable Resource Group.
Candidates
Mr Irranca-Davies, the MP for Ogmore, has also previously served as Under-Secretary of State at Defra.
Writing in his statement for nomination to the post, Mr Gardiner wrote: “Whatever the environmental disaster, the role of the Environmental Audit Committee is NOT to shout at government when policies have gone spectacularly wrong. It is to secure sound evidence from witnesses that can inform policy and help government to take the right decisions in the first place. Then hold them to account if they don’t.”
Dr Whitehead wrote: “The Environmental Audit select committee occupies an almost unique position in the select committee structure being Parliaments environmental ‘watchdog’ across all government departments, with an added brief to report on wider issues of environmental concern on all executive initiatives. The demise of the Sustainable Development Commission, which had many similarities in its brief to that of EAC, has made this cross-cutting environmental function all the more important.”
A ballot will be held among MPs on Wednesday (June 17) to decide who is given the post, with an announcement to be made the following day.
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