Mr. Chaytor: One would hope that the nature of the other place will change in the not too distant future. The important point is that wildlife cannot be preserved in isolation, because it must permeate our whole environment. That is why I am arguing for comprehensive wildlife and countryside legislation. We should not adopt a piecemeal approach and tackle the issue section by section: we need a single block of comprehensive legislation.

To their credit, this Government--like the post-war Government--have improved many policy areas in need of fundamental reform. They have grasped the nettle in the crucial areas of welfare and health care reform, and we must now continue that process by introducing wildlife and countryside legislation. By making a clear commitment to include such legislation in next year's Queen's Speech, we will not only fulfil Labour's promise to put the environment at the heart of Government policy, but leave a lasting legacy for the new millennium.

11.50 am

Mr. Simon Burns (West Chelmsford): I congratulate the hon. Member for South-East Cornwall (Mr. Breed) on securing this important debate. We welcome the opportunity on a Wednesday morning to discuss intelligently and calmly and at reasonable length a subject of critical importance. As the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Mr. Brake) said, this is a very topical issue, given early-day motion 11 and the Government's moves to examine wildlife issues, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and to introduce legislation to address several problems that have been discussed in the debate.

The sooner we get such legislation, the better. I echo the comments of several hon. Members--the fact was reiterated at Environment questions yesterday afternoon--

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Mr. Brake: Will the hon. Gentleman explain what he means by "Christmas tree legislation"? We are talking about wildlife.

Mr. Burns: The hon. Gentleman is relatively new to the House. It is a parliamentary expression that refers to including several issues within a broad subject base. To take the wildlife example, the Government might introduce legislation regarding sites of special scientific interest and other wildlife considerations. They might then add to that the issue of access to the countryside, possibly hunting--which, although a countryside issue, would be fraught with danger--and other unrelated issues that come under the umbrella of the countryside. I saw the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mrs. Brinton) look towards heaven when I mentioned the "H" word. However, certain lobby groups are seeking to put pressure on the Government to include hunting in any wildlife Bill.

My point is that, although there would be almost universal support for a wildlife measure, other issues that come under the countryside umbrella are far more controversial. It would be sad if the Government caused problems by making such badly needed legislation a Christmas tree-type measure. I hope that they will consider my concerns seriously when taking decisions about what will be in the next Queen's Speech.

We share an interest in protecting our natural heritage. All types of animal and plant life need protection for their own sake and because of the many benefits that they provide to mankind and the way in which they interact as part of our fragile eco-structure. Caring for the environment must be central to any society's responsibilities. Economic growth and environmental protection must be balanced carefully and integrated successfully.

This generation clearly needs the homes, jobs, food and services that only continued economic growth can provide. However, at the same time, common sense demands that economic growth be sustainable. It would be wrong to limit the ability of future generations to meet their own needs or to pass heavy environmental costs to them. We must consider and manage the environmental consequences of our actions today in the context of their future implications for the environment, the countryside and wildlife. We must take a long-term view and focus more on the quality of life of both this and future generations, and not simply on current economic facts of life.

I listened with interest to several hon. Members, including the hon. Members for Peterborough and for Bury, North, who paid tribute to the Labour Government of 1945-1951 and the National Parks and Access to the

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Mrs. Brinton: The hon. Gentleman has drawn attention to the fact that my hon. Friend the Member for Bury, North (Mr. Chaytor) and I mentioned the sterling environmental achievements of the reforming Labour Administration of 1945. Has the hon. Gentleman read the minutes or reports of the Environmental Audit Select Committee, which comprises hon. Members from four political parties? If he reads those documents closely, he will see that all members of the Select Committee give credit, where it is due, to Governments of all political colours.

Mr. Burns: The hon. Lady's initial comment is slightly redundant. She will remember the fascinating debate--in which she and I participated--in this Chamber only four Wednesdays ago when we discussed the Select Committee's report. Some six months after its publication, I was able to study and read the report in depth, and I do not dispute the hon. Lady's comments about its contents.

My point is that the speeches made today in the Chamber--which have a wider audience--did not reflect the contents of that report. Labour Members seemed to suggest that governmental action on the environment stopped in 1949 with landmark legislation and resumed on 2 May 1997. The Clean Air Act 1956 and other measures, including our signing up to the Rio commitments in 1992 under the previous Government led by my right hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Major), are equally important. They will help us to improve the environment of not only this country but the rest of the world--because the environment does not respect national or geographical boundaries.

Of course, no debate on the environment could take place without the House paying tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk, Coastal (Mr. Gummer). Ministers in the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions have the decency to recognise him as having been a pioneer Secretary of State for the Environment concerned about advancing environmental considerations.

I remind the House that Conservative Governments had a good record on the environment, and under my noble Friend Baroness Thatcher, passed the 1981 Act and established SSSIs and environmentally sensitive areas. We were responsible also for the expansion of the countryside stewardship scheme. The Environment Act 1995 provided Parliament with the powers to implement a statutory scheme to protect the hedgerows, which are so crucial to sustaining wildlife and enabling it to thrive in the countryside. The previous Administration established the biodiversity action plan and the biodiversity steering group, which committed Britain to tough targets.

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I turn now to the problems of SSSIs, which have featured significantly in the debate. As hon. Members have said, SSSIs cover approximately 7 per cent. of the land of England and Wales, and there are more than 5,500 sites. They represent the best examples of our natural heritage of wildlife habitats, geographical features and land forms. In addition, environmentally sensitive areas cover about 15 per cent. of the land of the United Kingdom.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, in an excellent brief that it provided for the debate, has drawn attention to serious problems with SSSIs. In the past six years, more than 2,000 have been damaged, just under half have an unfavourable conservation status, 46 sites have lost their status altogether and hundreds have had part of the designation deleted. As it was pointed out at Environment questions yesterday, it is important that more is done through the introduction, as soon as possible, of a wildlife or countryside Bill to strengthen the regime and its protection and enforcement and so avoid the continued demise and denigration of those sites. Once a site is lost, it is difficult, if not impossible, to restore it to its former condition.

I found interesting the comments of my right hon. Friend the Member for Kensington and Chelsea (Mr. Clark) and the intervention--I believe that it was made by the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, but I may be wrong--about penalties for people who actively damage SSSIs and seek to walk away from any responsibility. There is little point, as experience has shown, in having legislation to protect areas or certain features of our countryside if there are no powers to punish people who wilfully seek to destroy or denigrate them. I hope that when the Government introduce their legislation, they will consider that.

The Conservative party fully understands that the market can often be brought to bear on environmental problems. People must appreciate that the market is not simply a negative force but has an important positiverole to play in environmental protection. Economic instruments make environmental costs more explicit and identifiable and thereby ensure that they are properly taken into account. In government, we operated a number of schemes to provide financial incentives for environmentally friendly farming, such as the introduction of nitrate-sensitive areas to protect selected groundwater sources and the habitat scheme to improve a range of habitats. We also encouraged organic production through the organic aid scheme.

In opposition, we are developing the policies that we operated in government. We have been consulting a wide range of interested parties throughout the country. In our on-going listening to Britain campaign, the environment has emerged as one of the key issues, especially among members of the younger generation. The protection of the environment will be a central part of the next Conservative Government, as it was in the previous Conservative Government. However, the protection of wildlife should not have to wait until the next general election to receive the attention that it deserves. It is up to this Government to take forward the work that they inherited and implement solutions to the many problems that clearly still exist.

The Labour party's general election manifesto contained a commitment to

"ensure greater protection for wildlife".