Agriculture Bill concentrates power in environment secretary’s hands, warn MPs

The Agriculture Bill places too much power in the hands of the environment secretary, enabling whoever holds the role to dodge scrutiny and make decisions unchallenged, a House of Commons committee has concluded.

The Environment Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) committee published its report on the bill this morning, following an inquiry which was hurriedly set up because the committee was “not given the opportunity for thorough pre-legislative scrutiny”.