Maria Eagle MP, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, responding to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee report ‘Departmental Annual Report 2012-13’, said:

“It’s clear that Owen Paterson is a stranger to evidence-based policy making.

“He has failed to prioritise investment in flood defences nor explained how communities at risk from flooding will not be adversely impacted by major reductions in Environment Agency staff, despite evidence that extreme weather conditions are set to become more frequent.

“He has failed to rule out extending his unscientific policy of culling badgers, despite risking the spread of TB during the pilots by failing to reduce the local badger populations by seventy per cent as intended.

“And he appears to be determined to make it easier to rip up ancient woodland, without waiting for the conclusion of his biodiversity off-setting trials. It’s time that Owen Paterson stopped putting his own personal dogma before the clear science and evidence available to him.”