Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom has said that government ambitions in environmental policy areas including waste will not be ‘watered down’ following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.

Addressing the Westminster Environmental Audit Committee at a meeting last month Mrs Leadsom rejected a suggestion from committee chair Mary Creagh that environmental issues may be ‘de-prioritised’ without pressure from the EU.

“I do not see why there is any sense in which the goals of good environmental outcomes will be watered down in any way”, she said. “We have very clear goals around issues such as air quality, waste… Those commitments will be enhanced by our ability to take our place on a world stage,” she said.

Mrs Leadsom noted that the government has committed to a 25-year environmental plan, with a framework due to be published “within the next few months” and added that the UK’s departure from the European Union offered ‘greater flexibility’ over how the plan could take shape.