PHILIP Dunne MP has announced he is standing for chair of the parliamentary environmental audit committee.

With the new Parliament, select committee chairs will be elected by MPs of all parties. The allocation of committee chairs between parties is agreed by the whips, and the environmental audit committee is now to be chaired by a Conservative candidate.

It was chaired by former Labour MP Mary Creagh in the last Parliament.

Mr Dunne immediately joined the committee after leaving government in 2018, and has the highest attendance of any member of the committee, apart from its former chair.

Votes on select committee chairs are anticipated in the next few weeks.

“The environmental audit committee as a cross-departmental audit committee, plays a critical role in holding the Government to account and pushing the agenda for a net zero carbon Britain,” said Mr Dunne.

“Having served on the environmental audit committee since January 2018, as soon as I ceased to be a minister, I am now asking MPs from across all parties to support my campaign to chair the committee.

“Aside from our former chair Mary Creagh, who steered the committee impressively in the last Parliament, I had the highest attendance record of any member of the committee.”