Environment Secretary Michael Gove has plans for an independent body to oversee environmental standards in England and "hold Government to account" after Brexit. A consultation on what powers the statutory body will have is to be launched early 2018. All EU environmental law is to be taken on by the UK through the EU (Withdrawal) Bill currently going through Parliament. But Gove said that without further action there would be a "governance gap". He added the new body would "have bite" and be able to challenge law makers. "We will deliver a Green Brexit, where environmental standards are not only maintained but enhanced," he said. There are as yet no indications how this new body would work with the existing regulating authorities: the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and Northern Ireland Environmental Agency.
