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Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) (England) Regulations 2006

I am grateful to the Minister for that, and to the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, for his questions. We obviously support the Minister’s drive to minimise red tape that so many farmers and land managers must go through and lessen the burdens on business. Both of us want British agriculture to succeed; there is no difference between us on that. I must say, however, that we will look carefully at all the statutory instruments that come through. If we feel that the Merits Committee has raised concerns, we shall take a view: some we raise with the Minister, and others we do not. This one, however, we felt that we should. Before I finally sit down, I again seek clarification on something I have raised. The committee referred to different members states looking at this regulation in different ways. Is the Minister satisfied that it will in no way disadvantage UK producers or land managers, compared with others throughout the EU? I support flexibility to a certain extent, but I do not want to see flexibility disadvantaging UK producers and land managers.