Leadsom new Defra secretary amid Decc rumours

Andrea Leadsom has been named as the new environment secretary amid a swirl of rumours that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) will be merged with the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

Leadsom, who fielded questions in a Decc orals session in the House of Commons this morning, was named as the new secretary of state for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) by new prime minister Theresa May.

The announcement comes amid rumours that Decc will be scrapped and its energy responsiblities transfered to a reformed BIS, which will incorporate business, energy and industry.

In parliament this morning, Leadsom did little to quell the rumours. When asked by Labour MP David Hanson whether they were true, she responded: “He will have to wait and see. But what I can tell him is that the commitment to our energy trilemma; to smart meters; to all of our policies will remain as strong as ever.”

She later refuted the notion that axing Decc would be read as a sign of a reduced commitment to the issues dealt with by the department: “The assumption that you have to have a department for something in order to meet its objectives is just not one that I would agree with at all.”

Chair of the Energy and Climate Change select committee Angus MacNeil told Utility Week: “I hope that Theresa May is not taking her eye of the ball as regards to energy. It is especially important around security of supply in coming winters – nothing ends a government or a prime minister faster than an energy crisis”

Decc was created in 2008 by Gordon Brown who was prime minister as the time. It took responsibility for energy policy from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform – one of the predecessors to BIS – and for climate change policy from Defra.

Now former energy secretary Amber Rudd was appointed yesterday as the new home secretary – May’s old post.