Reform MP chair of Welsh environment committee may ‘undermine scrutiny’, says thinktank

The former Tory politician James Evans, right, was announced as a Reform MP by the party’s leader Nigel Farage in February. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA View image in fullscreen The former Tory politician James Evans, right, was announced as a Reform MP by the party’s leader Nigel Farage in February. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA Reform MP chair of Welsh environment committee may ‘undermine scrutiny’, says thinktank Climate campaigners question choice of James Evans for role given past criticism of green energy projects UK politics live – latest updates The appointment of a Reform UK MP as the chair of a key Welsh environmental committee could “undermine the hard graft of ministerial scrutiny”, a green thinktank has warned. James Evans, a former Conservative party MP who defected to Reform UK in January last year, has been appointed chair of the Welsh climate change, environment, sustainability and rural affairs committee. The role of the committee is to examine legislation and hold the Welsh government to account by scrutinising its spending, administration and policy in relation to climate breakdown and environmental concerns. It also holds inquiries into key issues, using these to make recommendations to government. The chair’s main role is to ensure there is a fair balance of opportunities for committee members to ask questions and for expert witnesses to respond. It is the only environmental scrutiny committee in the Senedd, so who leads it “really matters because this is the principal way of holding the Welsh government to account”, said Ruth Chambers, senior fellow at the Green Alliance thinktank. Reform UK has pledged to scrap net zero , with the party’s leader, Nigel Farage, calling net zero policies “lunacy” and committing to ripping up government contracts for renewable energy projects. Evans has previously said rural Wales is “ under attack ” from large-scale green energy infrastructure and said Reform would ban all new onshore windfarm developments in the country if elected. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says emissions from fossil fuels are the dominant cause of the climate crisis and that global greenhouse gas emissions must be halved by 2030, compared with 2010 levels, to prevent catastrophic climate impacts. “Wales has come too far on climate and nature to stumble now. It would be a tragedy if party politicking undermined the hard graft of ministerial scrutiny and we hope that the new environment committee will seek to find common cause and not conflict,” Chambers said. View image in fullscreen James Evans has promised to be fair and impartial while chairing the committee. Photograph: Sean Pursey/Alamy Evans, who has a farming background, said his role as chair is to be “fair, impartial and evidence-led” and that “scrutiny is at its strongest when it includes different perspectives”. “The role of a committee chair is not to drive any personal agendas, but to make sure the committee scrutinises policy properly,”