UK government to scrap European law protecting special habitats

Environment secretary George Eustice wants to amend Habitats Directive, which protects Natura 2000 sites

Environment secretary George Eustice wants to tear up a key piece of European law that environmentalists say protects cherished habitats in the UK.

Eustice told MPs the Habitats Directive was in a list of laws he wanted to amend in the forthcoming Brexit freedoms bill designed to cut red tape, saying it was bureaucratic and fundamentally flawed on multiple levels.