Water minister joins mass exit from government
Published 7 July 2022
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Water minister Rebecca Pow resigned on Thursday morning (7 July) becoming the last member of the government to quit ahead of Boris Johnson announcing his own departure.
The Taunton MP had held the post of parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) since September 2019.
In this role, she was responsible for flooding and water issues.
However Pow, who has been ill with Covid this week, wrote to the prime minister on Thursday morning to tender her resignation.
In the letter, she wrote that it has been the “honour” of her life to have served in the role, in particular steering the Environment Bill through Parliament.
Pow praised Johnson for recognising that climate change issues had to rise up the agenda but added that his leadership had “veered too far off course” and that “values, integrity and a moral code” had been “sadly lacking in too many decisions coming from the top”.
George Eustice, secretary of state for the environment, remains in post as does his counterpart at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Kwasi Kwarteng.
Lee Rowley, whose remit as junior industry minister at BEIS included the nuclear sector, also resigned on Wednesday as part of the mass walk-out from government triggered by disgust at the PM’s handling of the furore surrounding his disgraced ex-deputy chief whip Chris Pincher.
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