Longstanding Green MP Caroline Lucas has warned that the “Profound uncertainty” surrounding Brexit could lead to a huge loss of environment legislation that offers protection for people and the UK’s beleaguered wildlife.

The Green Party politician has sponsored a report that highlights the potential consequences for the environment of Britain’s withdrawal from Europe. In all, it outlines 12 distinct ways in which Brexit threatens the environment.  

Research by the House of Commons Library, which green Party co-Leader Lucas made public in the report published on Sunday, shows that more than 1,100 pieces of environmental legislation have been made at European level. Defra secretary Andrea Leadsom herself has warned that around a third of current environment laws will not be suitable for directly transposing into UK law under the UK government’s planned Great Repeal Bill.

Comparatively little attention has been paid to environmental matters in the Brexit debate thus far, and there are currently no plans in place to create legal bodies that would replace the EU courts that measure compliance with Directives and progress towards targets in an independent Britain. This, the Green report warns, means laws could be watered down, become outdated or simply be ignored by the government. Meanwhile, the UK risks losing trade if domestic standards don’t keep up with those of the EU, which for key sectors like agriculture and chemicals is still the main destination for exports.

There are serious concerns about the potential for a drop in standards to affect the UK’s environment. The UK government was one of a blocking minority of EU member states that succeeded in preventing the adoption of a Soil Directive that would have classed soils as non-renewable resources in Europe, and offered similar protections as exist for clean air and water. Soil scientists already view soils as non-renewable, due to the amount of time it takes to build healthy soil.

The most recent State of Nature Report, which looked at the fortunes of almost 10,000 wild species of plant and animal in the UK, showed that 15% of threatened species are already extinct or are facing extinction in Britain. Of 218 countries whose biodiversity has been thoroughly assessed, the UK is ranked 189, way down at the bottom of the scale.

Caroline Lucas is calling for the government to adopt a ‘green guarantee’ to ensure that standards aren’t watered down. She said the guarantee could include pledges to retain membership of cross-border groups like the European Environment Agency, and the creation of an ‘environment act’ - a move recommended last month by the Environmental Audit Committee, a parliamentary committee on which Lucas sits. She said meaningful action to protect the environment would include introducing concepts like the precautionary principle into the UK statute.

On Sunday, the Brighton MP said, “Though we’ve hardly heard it mentioned by the Government it’s clear that British environmental policy faces a cocktail of threats from Brexit. Just days after the Brexit vote in the Commons we can clearly see the huge risks of downgrading environmental protections as part of the post-referendum process. Key laws could become unenforceable, spending on crucial schemes could be cut and new trade deals could undermine existing regulations.

“Theresa May’s courting of the United States in pursuit of a new Free Trade Agreement, poses an even greater risk that Ministers may be tempted to water down regulations - such as those on GMOs, pesticides, and animal hormones. We could see chlorinated chickens and hormone beef on UK markets.”

She added, “We need a Green Guarantee that will deliver on Government’s commitment to ensuring that ‘We become the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than we found it.’ We need to immediately begin work on introducing an Environment act to ensure that Britain’s crucial rules and enforcement don’t drop off as Britain exits the EU.”