Recycling minister Lord Henley is devoting less time to his waste brief after being charged with pushing university tuition fee reforms through the House of Lords, it has emerged.
Last night, all government ministers – with the exception of energy secretary Chris Huhne – were ordered back to the UK to take part in a ‘crunch' vote today (December 9) concerning controversial plans to raise tuition fees to £9,000 a year.
As Lord Henley was education minister for two years under then-Prime Minister John Major, it is understood that he is considered to be a “safe pair of hands” to try to get the legislation through.
Pull out
The move meant that the minister had to pull out at the last minute from giving the keynote speech at a meeting of the Conservative Environment Network in London last night.
Lord Henley was replaced by Defra under-secretary of state, Richard Benyon, who explained that his colleague was doing some “double-hatting” in the Lords.
He said: “He is taking through another piece of legislation for another department – as you can see we are an austerity government”.
It is feared that the issue could pre-occupy Lord Henley for several weeks at a crucial time with regards to the government's review of waste policy, which Lord Henley is leading and is due to report in the Spring.
However, a spokeswoman for Defra insisted that the minister pulling out of the CEN event was a “one-off” in a particularly hectic week for the government and was not reflective of where his energies were more widely focused.
Today, it is expected that 20,000 student protesters will take to the streets of London to protest about the rise in fees and the government is doing everything it can to get the legislation passed.
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