The MP for Ogmore in South Wales, who has previously served as under-secretary of state at Defra, takes over as EAC chair from former Labour MP Joan Walley, who stood down at the recent election.
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.
Mr Irranca-Davies beat off competition from Labour MP Alan Whitehead and shadow environment minister Barry Gardiner, who were also in the running for the EAC position.
Elsewhere, Labour’s Iain Wright, the MP for Hartlepool, won his bid to become chair of the Business, Innovation & Skills Committee.
In the contested select committee elections, a total of 621 ballot papers were submitted by MPs, which were counted under the Alternative Vote System.
It follows the announcement last week of Conservative MP Neil Parish as the new chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, which is charged with scrutinising the work of Defra (see letsrecycle.com story).
Labour MP Clive Betts has also taken on chairmanship of the Communities & Local Government Committee, while the SNP’s Angus MacNeil is the new chair of the Energy & Climate Change Committee.
All were the sole candidates put forward by fellow MPs for their respective positions.
Ben Bradshaw
Meanwhile, former Labour waste and recycling minister, Ben Bradshaw, has made the final list of candidates in the Party’s deputy leadership election this summer.
The MP for Exeter since 1997, Mr Bradshaw is one of five MPs in the running for deputy leader of the party, with voting opening alongside the election for Party leader on August 14. The winners of both elections will be announced on September 12.
However, bookies currently list Mr Bradshaw as least likely to secure the deputy leadership, with Tom Watson the current favourite just ahead of remaining candidates Stella Creasy, Caroline Flint and Angela Eagle.
Mr Bradshaw worked as under-secretary of state and then minister of state at Defra under Tony Blair’s Prime Ministership between 2003 and 2007.
He took over responsibility for waste issues in 2005 (see letsrecycle.com story) from Elliot Morley and was the UK spokesman for the EU Environment Council during the UK’s presidency of the European Union that year.
The £5 million Agrivert and LondonWaste anaerobic digestion plant was officially opened by Mr Bradshaw in 2006 (see letsrecycle.com story), and in 2007 he voiced support for Environment Agency and local authority resources to tackle waste crime (see letsrecycle.com story).
Mr Bradshaw later worked as minister for the South West, minister of state for Health and secretary of state for Culture, Media and Sport while Gordon Brown was Prime Minister.
A University of Sussex graduate, Mr Bradshaw was one of the first British MPs who was openly gay when first elected to parliament, coming into office after New Labour’s landslide election victory in 1997.
Before becoming an MP, he worked as a local newspaper reporter in Exeter and Norwich, later becoming an award-winning journalist at BBC Radio, where he served as Berlin correspondent during the fall of the Belin Wall in 1989.
Anyone registering as a member or supporter of the Labour Party before August 12 can vote in the leader and deputy leader elections, while London residents who register will also be able to vote to choose Labour’s candidate for the Mayoral election in 2016.
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