Mary Creagh
MP for Coventry East · Labour · United Kingdom
“The actions taken by this Government stand in stark contrast to the actions of previous Conservative Governments, who were happy to watch the closure of the Massey Ferguson factory, the Alvis tank factory and Peugeot in Coventry in the ’80s, which led to 20% unemployment in the city where I grew up.”
“I welcome the Lord Chancellor to his place and congratulate him on the steps he has taken this summer to reduce prison populations while excluding the most dangerous offenders. We must never again be in the position of having more prisoners than prison places.”
“Under this Government, more than £100 billion of private investment in the net zero economy has been announced. We have done much on mitigation. However, following advice from the Climate Change Committee, we are setting stronger objectives for climate adaptation.”
“Since we have come into government, approximately 10,000 hectares of peatlands have been brought into restoration through our nature for climate peatland grant scheme. Last week we announced £44 million for lowland peat—which I do not think the hon.”
“The hon. Member asked about a range of policies. I will talk about natural flood management. We will invest £300 million in natural flood management over the next 10 years—the highest ever figure for floods programming, and that is the minimum level.”
“I remember when I was Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee doing an inquiry into heatwaves that started during the “beast from the east”, so nobody gave us any evidence, and ended on the first 36° June day in London, which I think was back in 2017 or 2018. The point my hon. Friend makes is a valid one.”
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“The hon. Lady raises an excellent point. Making sure we are resilient to a rapidly changing climate with warmer, wetter winters and hotter, dryer summers is important for not just food and water security, but all infrastructure, including our roads and bridges. With the flooding in Tadcaster, we saw what happens when a bridge that connects two parts of a town is knocked out during a flood as well as the huge economic and social consequences that that brings. I will take the hon. Lady’s suggestion back to the Department as we look at business planning for this year. In the Labour manifesto, we committed to deliver nine new national river walks, one in every region of England.”
“Transitioning to a zero-waste economy is one of five priorities that my Department will deliver as part of a mission-led Government to rebuild Britain. Our circular economy strategy, coming later this year, will set out further plans to stem the rising tide of electronic waste. This Government are committed to putting the “polluter pays” principle into action; we are tackling the waste cowboys, and we are cleaning up Britain. For those reasons, I commend the measure to the Committee.”
“These regs will require online marketplaces to cover the underlying costs associated with products sold by overseas sellers into the UK using their platforms. The time to act is now. Sales made through online marketplaces are skyrocketing, with electrical goods being no exception. An estimated half a million tonnes of electrical products are placed on the UK market via online marketplaces each year. This instrument is about fairness for the UK high street. It is about supporting businesses doing the right thing, creating a regulatory level playing field, and ensuring that the right people pay their fair share of the waste management costs associated with their products. In doing so, we send a clear message: environmental responsibility is not optional; it is part of doing business in a modern circular economy.”
“The costs must be shouldered by those who profit from their sale. I will turn my attention to the second issue of the day: the sale of electricals via online marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon from sellers based overseas. There is no doubt that we are now in an era of astonishing convenience. With just a few clicks on our phone, a product made on the other side of the world can be shipped to our doorstep the next day. That is the magic of online shopping. But most overseas sellers on these platforms are not meeting their financial obligations to fund the costs of dealing with their products when they become waste. That is wrong, not least because it is compliant, UK-based, often high street businesses that are picking up the costs for those overseas sellers who are freeloading under the existing regulations. That must stop.”
“However, today’s amazing fact is that vapes are currently classified as toys and leisure equipment, so, under the current regulations, producers of toys and other leisure goods could end up cross-subsidising the waste management cost of vapes. It is an amazing thought—because they were such a new invention, they were categorised as toys. This simply cannot go on. The responsibility for dealing with vapes when they become waste must fall squarely on those who produce them. That is why I am so pleased to introduce the draft regulations, which will hold those producers directly accountable for the environmental impact of the vapes and similar products that they place on the UK market. When I visited Sweeep, a waste recycling processer in Kent, I saw for myself just how difficult, expensive and manually intensive it is to recycle these vapes.”
“The Government have already banned the sale of single-use vapes, which was a vital first step in taking an environmentally harmful product off the market. They were banned from 1 June, so there should be no more Lost Marys littering the streets—it will just be me if I am ever invited to turn up and do a visit. Our work does not end there. Rechargeable and refillable vapes will continue to be sold, and we need to ensure that their collection and treatment is properly and fairly funded. Producers of electricals, including vapes, are already required to finance the cost of their treatment when they become waste.”
“Many electricals, including those sold from the online retail and vaping industries, end up in our bins, landfilled, littering our streets and, too often, harming our natural environment. Vapes can also cause fires in our waste storage areas, which has huge costs for the recycling industry. This is simply not sustainable economically, environmentally or socially. For that reason, the Government are taking decisive action. We must not only curb the amount of waste ending up in landfill, but ensure that those who profit from the sale and supply of electricals are responsible for meeting their end-of-life costs. The draft regulations address two key areas. I will start with vapes, e-cigarettes, heated tobacco and other similar products, which, for convenience, I will refer to simply as vapes.”
“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Amendment, etc.) Regulations 2025. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I rise to speak about an issue of growing urgency: the need to ensure that those who profit from the sale of electrical products take financial responsibility for dealing with the waste that those products will eventually generate. Our planet is facing a mounting waste crisis, and electrical waste is no exception to that. It is the fastest-growing waste stream globally, and the UK is the second biggest generator of electrical waste in the world. We should just ask ourselves how many iPhones and BlackBerries we have hoarded in our drawers at home. Members are all nodding in silent agreement.”
“Finally, on the Friday Private Member’s Bill of the hon. Member for Newton Abbot, we do of course have the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures, which I am sure he is aware of. Under the previous Government, that sort of incorporated the work of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures; but last week, at London Climate Action Week, we saw a recognition of UK leadership in this space in terms of bringing climate and nature on to the books of companies. The days of the old linear “make-take-use-destroy-restore”—regret it and restore it—are over. We have to get to a much more resilient circular economy where we make things that last and that we are proud to own, proud to keep and proud to pass on, and where we have resilient supply chains in an ever more turbulent world.”
“These are serious jobs—often, such vapes are sold under the counter, and there is other illicit activity happening that means that these officers often have to work with local police forces to do the job. I thank them for their enforcement role. On the enforcement of the new regs, the WEEE regulations are enforced by the Environment Agency and its equivalents in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. They will need to ensure that online marketplaces are registering with a producer compliance scheme in the UK, and that they are submitting data on the amount of electricals placed on the market via their platform by overseas sellers. Producers of vapes and other similar products will need to submit data on the amount of each product that they are placing on the market to the Environment Agency in the new category 7.1.”
“These are not products aimed at people trying to give up smoking; we are very much aware of that. On the hon. Gentleman’s point about local authorities, local authorities act as the regulator for the single-use vapes ban. They are responsible for enforcing those regulations, so if you see any on sale, Mr Stringer, in Manchester or anywhere else, you should report it to your local trading standards. We have given them £10 million of new burdens funding to recruit and train up an entire new generation of trading standards officers—a service that was hollowed out under the previous Government. That was very much welcomed by the national Chartered Trading Standards Institute, which I met last month.”
“Online marketplaces will only be required to report this data for the period after the regulations enter into force through to December 2025, and they must do so by 31 January 2026. DEFRA will then set a national collection target for 2026 for each of the categories of electrical equipment. The regulators will then issue producer compliance schemes with a share of that target on a market share basis—we will know the exact quantum, the exact market share, and we will allocate the notes in that way. For online marketplaces, that will be based on the data they report from the date that the regulations enter into force until December 2025. I agree with the hon. Member for Newton Abbot on the single-use vapes issue. They are pocket-money products at pocket-money prices, marketed in lipstick colours, with watermelon and strawberry flavours.”
“At the moment, it is a bit hard to say, and online marketplaces may be a little bit chary about sharing data in the interests of competition. So, I genuinely cannot say whether this is going to change behaviour. What I would say is that we are a large, vibrant market—and heavy users of online shopping—so I do not foresee an environment where this change means that overseas sellers withdraw from the market. Online marketplaces will then be required to report this data on a quarterly basis, in line with the existing reporting obligations. That is of course subject to transitional provisions, which have been made, to reflect that the regulations enter into force partway through the year.”
“I will reply and set out next steps. After the regulations enter into force in 21 days—after I lay and sign them—online marketplaces not already registered with a producer compliance scheme must do so by 15 November 2025. All online marketplaces will be required to submit the methodology that they will use for determining the amount of electricals placed on the market via their platform by their overseas sellers, by 15 November—so this is with a producer compliance scheme. That is then reported up to the regulator, which is the Environment Agency. That data submission is a new requirement, and will help us to better understand the volume of products sold into the UK by overseas sellers through online marketplaces.”
“Fly-tipping sky-rocketed under the Conservative Government. This Labour Government will crack down on the waste cowboys in order to clean up Britain’s streets. We will support councils in seizing and crush their vehicles. We will use drones and CCTV to hunt down the fly-tippers, forcing them to clean up their mess, and we will bring in new prison sentences for those transporting waste illegally. I am delighted to tell the House that we are beginning the clean-up of the disgraceful fly-tipping in Hoads Wood site of special scientific interest, which happened under the previous Government. That work is ongoing.”
“I have the greatest sympathy for my hon. Friend’s constituents. I encourage Stevenage borough council to work with our National Fly-tipping Prevention Group, which shares best practice on tackling fly-tipping. We are also taking direct action on some of the littered items, because once there is litter, people think that they can fly-tip, and then they think that they can dump. That is why we have banned the sale of single-use vapes from 1 June, and I stand ready to work with his council.”
“We have said that we will use existing powers to create clean-up squads, which will force the waste criminals to clear up their mess. It is a little rich of the Conservative party, after 14 years of failure, to attack us after just 10 months in government. We have said that we are changing the carriers, brokers and dealers regime to tighten up arrangements relating to who can carry and transport waste, because the Conservatives left us a paper-based system that is open to fraud.”
“I thank my hon. Friend, who is a distinguished mountaineer and mountain guide, for his personal courage and bravery in climbing various very tall mountains, and for championing access to the outdoors. The Government are introducing the national youth guarantee and investing £1.5 million in bursaries to help disadvantaged young people to access the great outdoors. We cannot love what we do not know, so we are delighted to be introducing the new natural history GCSE, in order to build on the UK’s unrivalled history and research in this area.”
“The Government are absolutely committed to extending access, which is why we have committed to creating nine new national river walks and three national forests, the first of which is the Western forest, which I had the pleasure of planting a tree in a couple of months ago. We are also designating Wainwright’s coast-to-coast walk as a national trail. My hon. Friend is right about the Duke of Edinburgh’s award scheme, which my daughter will be taking part in this summer. We support the award, which aims to reach a quarter of a million more young people by next year.”
“I would be delighted to offer up the Water Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice (Emma Hardy), to meet the hon. Gentleman on that issue. I would just say that the King Charles III coastal path will open up a quarter of a million hectares of open access land on the coast—I know that Lewes is very close to some of that spectacular scenery.”
“We have announced plans to tighten up the regulation of those who transport and manage waste, moving them from a light-touch regime into a permitted system, which gives the Environment Agency a greater range of powers. It will also introduce the possibility of up to five years in prison for those who breach the new laws.”
“We were delighted by the Supreme Court judgment on Dartmoor wild camping and we understand the calls to expand it. However, we have no plans to extend it, as it does need to be balanced with landowner rights and habitat protection.”
“This issue is at the very top of the Secretary of State’s priorities, which is why we set up a flood resilience taskforce to provide oversight of national and local flood resilience and preparedness. That taskforce represents a new approach that brings together representatives from national, regional and local government, the devolved Administrations, the emergency services, charities and environmental interest groups. We need to know what works and we are learning where we need to make changes. We have established action groups led by members to deliver progress on areas, including flood warnings, awareness of recovery and insurance schemes. The Government fully support the vital role that internal drainage boards play in managing water and flood risk and in protecting the environment.”
“This should speed up the delivery of vital schemes and ensure that money is distributed more effectively across the country, including for rural and coastal communities, and poorer communities that have previously struggled to secure funding. We will make it easier to invest in natural flood management schemes that also give benefits for nature, water resources and the fight against climate change. We are considering how communities can make better use of property flood resilience measures. Changes to the current approach to floods funding will be launched in time for the new floods investment programme, which will start in April 2026. The consultation is open to all and we encourage everyone with an interest to respond and help shape our future approach to flood funding.”
“The EA will work with local communities, IDBs and through public sector co-operation agreements to assess whether dredging is technically achievable and cost-effective, ensuring that it does not significantly increase flood risk downstream and that it is environmentally acceptable. The hon. Lady asked about future funding reforms. The current approach to floods funding, introduced by a previous Government in 2011, neglects more innovative approaches. To address that, we have reviewed our approach and last week launched a consultation on proposals to reform the way we allocate funding to flood schemes. Our proposals will make it simpler for all risk management authorities to calculate their funding, benefiting all councils, including those that have less resource to commit to the application process.”
“Watercourse management responsibilities fall to different bodies. Riparian landowners whose land adjoins a watercourse, such as a drainage ditch, are required to keep those watercourses clear of anything that could be an obstruction. The EA has permissive powers to work on the main rivers, and lead local flood authorities or internal drainage boards have permissive powers for ordinary watercourses. The EA focuses on those activities that will achieve the greatest benefit in terms of protecting people and property from flooding. That, of course, can include dredging and clearing channels. In Lincolnshire, that often involves using the local IDBs. The EA spends an average of £40 million a year on these activities to improve water flow in around 3,000 km of main rivers. The need for dredging is assessed on a location-by-location basis.”
“In addition, environmental land management schemes present a valuable opportunity for supporting flooding and coastal erosion risk management, through direct funding of actions and providing a revenue stream to support landowners working with EA capital schemes, and through indirect actions that will lead to reduced watercourse maintenance requirements, increasing the lifespan of our assets. The hon. Lady mentioned red diesel and I just wanted to make a quick point on that. The previous Government removed most red diesel entitlements from April 2022, but there are some exceptions. Risk management authorities, which include internal drainage boards, may use red diesel for drainage ditch clearance, including work relating to agriculture, horticulture and forestry. I hope that is a useful clarification.”
“The Government inherited flood assets in their poorest condition on record following years of under-investment, leaving 3,000 of the Environment Agency’s 38,000 key flood defence assets below the condition required. This Government are taking decisive action to fix the foundations, giving communities confidence that flood defences will protect them. We are prioritising, over the current two spending years from 2024-25 and 2025-26, £108 million in repairing and restoring those critical assets. Last year, £36 million focused on damage from recent storms and flooding, with a further £72 million this year to ensure that defences are resilient, reliable and ready.”
“This is a 5% increase in our annual average investment compared with our existing spend of £2.65 billion over the past two years—2024-25 and 2025-26. Our current investment programme is supporting 1,000 projects, which will help to protect 52,000 homes and businesses by March 2026. And through essential maintenance, a further 14,500 properties will have their expected level of protection maintained or restored. That is a total of 66,500 properties that will benefit, helping to secure jobs, deliver growth and protect against economic damage. We have also unlocked £140 million from this investment to get 29 stalled projects moving. This is targeted at schemes that were ready to go, so that protection can be delivered faster for those who need it the most, and we have published the full list of funded schemes for this financial year.”
“Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice (Emma Hardy), to write to the hon. Member if there are any things that we cannot get through in the time available. The River Slea flood resilience project is exploring a new, more sustainable solution to flood risk management in Sleaford. Public engagement has been undertaken with organisations and other stakeholders on this project. Ruskington is also being considered for a flood resilience project. As set out by the Chancellor this week, in order to support the Government’s growth mission and plan for change, we are investing a record £4.2 billion over the next three years, from April 2026, to build new flood defences and to maintain and repair existing ones across the country. That is £1.4 billion each year.”
“As she mentioned Lincolnshire’s section 19 reports, I can say that officials tell me that they have been completed and that any decisions arising from them will take place in future funding years. Work has started this month on phase 1 of the Lower Witham flood resilience project, which will support embankment assets. Phase 2 of the project, which is planned, will bring further investment in sustaining legacy assets while implementing adaptation measures to improve the resilience of the area to flooding. The Environment Agency is working with partners to build an up-to-date model of the Lower Witham, to be completed this financial year, and it will be used to test future adaptive approaches and accurately assess flood risk. I will ask the Minister for Water and Flooding, my hon.”
“Sadly, more were flooded this January after heavy rainfall, and my thoughts are with those affected. As the former MP for Wakefield, I had 1,000 properties flooded in 2007, and I can tell her that the psychological impact on residents is very long lasting. I totally understand her desire to raise these matters on behalf of her constituents and the local communities she serves. Engagement and collaboration are a key component of managing and mitigating flood risk, and I am pleased to hear that the hon. Member is in contact with the Environment Agency on these matters. I can confirm that her constituency is receiving £9.3 million from the Government’s flood investment programme this financial year, which is funding the repair and maintenance, as she said, of a number of crucial flood defences.”
“I am very pleased to hear that there are flood-resilient repairs, and I am interested in ways in which nature-based planting around the school can potentially help with flood mitigation in the future. May I say how incredibly disappointed I am to hear that the Reform-led county council in Lincolnshire has taken the very short-sighted and unwelcome decision to abolish the flood risk and flood protection committee? This shows the danger of pandering to reactionary rhetoric and then leaving local homes and local communities unprotected. I shall be watching the council very closely to ensure that it is fulfilling its duties under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. I am aware that the hon. Member’s constituency has been badly affected by flooding from Storms Babet and Henk during the winter of 2023-24.”
“I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this debate and on raising these very important issues, which I will endeavour to address in the time remaining. Protecting communities, homes, businesses and farmland from flooding is a priority for this Government, and I am delighted to hear that Heighington Millfield academy students are now safely back at school. I am sure that there has been a lot of disruption, particularly for those taking public exams. I am grateful to the hon. Member for her generous comments about the Department for Education, DEFRA and EA officials who have been working at pace to minimise the impact, and I pay tribute to all the people involved in that—not least the parents and the students themselves.”
“It is vital that communities are in the communications chain so that they are aware of flood events, especially given that intense rainfall is expected this evening. I will endeavour to write to the hon. Lady about any other issues she may have. Question put and agreed to.”
“The previous Government had allocated £75 million to the IDB fund; I am happy to say that in March we announced an additional £16 million boost to the fund. That creates a total of £91 million, which should enable IDBs to modernise and upgrade their assets and waterways so that they are fit for the future, improving water management for more than 400,000 hectares of agricultural land and about 91,000 homes and businesses. That includes three IDBs in the hon. Lady’s constituency: Black Sluice, Upper Witham and Witham First, which have received Government funding of about £10.4 million in grants from the IDB fund since 2024-25, to help with pumping station repairs and watercourse embankment repairs. I am in my final minute. I encourage the hon. Lady’s constituents to sign up for flood warnings on gov.uk.”
“Member for Epping Forest (Dr Hudson) said, have stagnated over the past 15 years and are bumping along at 42% to 44%. Assessments show that getting our household recycling rate up to 65% over the next 10 years will drive £10 billion of new investment in the British economy and create 21,000 new jobs.”
“I am grateful for that guidance, Mr Stringer. I did not do that last week, so the Clerks have clearly made a mark against my name. I will do my best, and I have my team on standby to yank me down, as I am sure you will do. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship today. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion) for asking for this debate. She has been a doughty supporter of Beatson Clark in her constituency and of the glass industry in general. I also thank hon. Members from across the parties who have made valuable points today. The aim of the reforms is to create a more circular and resource-efficient economy. They are the biggest reforms in a generation. The three elements—simpler recycling, DRS and extended producer responsibility for packaging—will turn the dial on recycling rates, which, as the hon.”
“I will make some progress and then give way. UK circular industries—those that keep products and materials in circulation for as long as possible—currently deliver £67 billion a year to the economy, up from £44 billion in 2008, and provide 827,000 jobs. My hon. Friend the Member for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard (Alex Mayer) talked about the innovators in her constituency creating new packaging. I will take away the point about weights and measures and see what we can do in a cross-ministerial way.”
“We had a two-hour debate about how we would co-operate on the circular economy, in particular looking at the challenges of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man—island economies with no real reprocessing facilities—and what we can all learn from each other.”
“People will be able to recycle the same materials, including glass, whether they are at home, work or school, which will create a step change in the quality and quantity of recyclate streams. That is enabled by pEPR, which will pay for the new costs associated with the change, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Southall (Deirdre Costigan) mentioned. We are also introducing deposit return schemes in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland that add refundable deposits to single-use plastic, steel and aluminium containers. I discussed this with my colleague in Northern Ireland last week at the British-Irish Council environment ministerial meeting at Kew Gardens.”
“I will give time at the end but I want to make some progress. The annual growth rate of circular industries is 3%, more than double the UK’s overall growth rate of 1.2%. Extended producer responsibility for packaging—pEPR—moves recycling costs from taxpayers to packaging producers. Think about it: not everybody drinks and not everybody shops online, but we are all paying for the costs of collection. We have had a great tour of drinking places, hostelries and amazing producers, but at the moment everybody in the country is paying for that, through council tax and general taxation. These reforms are creating systematic change, and that is hard. Simpler recycling in England will make recycling easier and consistent.”
“Weight is a driving factor in waste management and it is the most common basis used to determine costs for public and private sector collection; that is why it is central to our approach. But the scheme relies on all producers paying their fair share. As my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Southall said, there was a range, but there was unhappiness with that, so in December we introduced a set point of £240 per tonne. The fewer free riders there are in the system—”
“Those exemptions apply to approximately 70% of UK businesses supplying packaging in the UK. There are quarterly payment options to help with cash flow for larger businesses, and we will watch the de minimis thresholds carefully. If we raised the thresholds, that would put costs on to the remaining businesses, because local authority collection costs would remain the same. The pEPR fees for glass are lower than those for aluminium and plastic. Because glass packaging is heavier, it costs more to handle per unit than some other materials. We have worked closely with industry and local authorities to make sure that the costs used to set producer fees accurately reflect the on-the-ground waste management operation costs that every taxpayer currently has to pay.”
“I am very aware of the issues that the glass sector has raised about dual-use items—items that can be disposed of in either business or household waste streams. It has been difficult to find an answer that works for everyone, and because of the issues raised in the debate, I have asked my officials to consult with industry immediately to find the fairest solution. There has been a lot of talk about small businesses. Many international pEPR schemes offer no exemption for small business. We responded to UK small business concerns by putting in place some of the most generous exemptions of any scheme globally. The exemptions mean that businesses with a turnover of below £2 million, or that place less than 50 tonnes of packaging on the market, are not obliged to pay fees.”
“I met British Glass in October 2024, and then in January at a glass reuse roundtable hosted by the British Beer and Pub Association at the Budweiser Brewing Group. On 11 February, the Minister of State, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon West (Sarah Jones), joined me to discuss the glass sector. We have engaged on this issue. The glass sector lobbied extensively to be excluded from the deposit return scheme. We respected that position, and kept that approach during the final passage of the DRS and pEPR legislation. Legislation on pEPR was supported on both sides of the House, but sadly the DRS was not. My officials have talked with businesses that make and use glass packaging, and we have listened to feedback to ensure that the fees are set fairly.”
“These reforms were started by Michael Gove, late of this parish, back in 2018—seven years ago. I remember successive Secretaries of State for DEFRA coming to the Environmental Audit Committee, when I was Chair, and promising these reforms and deposit return schemes. There has been extensive engagement and consultation with business on pEPR, including public consultations in 2019 and 2021. Businesses have had a clear indication, and the scheme has already been delayed twice. My officials run monthly packaging engagement forums, which regularly draw more than 1,000 attendees, to provide updates and test policy development with stakeholders. I have met British Glass several times to hear its concerns. I met Heineken last September.”
“I am going to make some headway. DRSs cut litter, boost recycling rates to more than 90% and create high-quality materials that industry can reuse. Since it launched in 2024, the Republic of Ireland’s DRS has seen over 1 billion containers returned and a near 50% reduction in drinks container litter. Last week, I met Timmy Dooley, the Minister of State for Environment, Climate and Communications in the Republic of Ireland, who he said he had been sceptical of the DRS but now has the zeal of a convert. This challenge is changing the way in which retailers and producers think about eco-design. Walkers is starting to use paper-based packaging for crisp multipacks, and many supermarkets are now using paper rather than plastic trays for fresh food. Our vision is to become world leaders in circular design, technology and industry.”
“We will publish the year one base fees in June, and I am optimistic that the result will be an improved picture. I am happy to give way if Members still have questions.”
“Let me finish my point; I have not made it yet. The fewer that do not report and pay on their packaging, the lower the fees will be for everybody. That point was raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham in previous debates: some people do not report their packaging. I have instructed my officials to work with regulators. We have done a sprint on that and tracked down about 1,800 suspected free riders, with a little over 200 companies under review. I pay tribute to the Environment Agency officials up in Sheffield who have done that, and to agency officials and the Met police, who last week arrested two individuals in London for packaging export note fraud and suspected money laundering. We are going to keep this under review. This work is having a real impact.”