The climate secretary, Ed Miliband, is one of the cabinet’s most experienced politicians. On carbon emissions targets, Labour has largely stuck to its guns and not allowed the siren voices of the populist right to undermine the UK’s green transition. By contrast, Kemi Badenoch’s pledge to repeal the Climate Change Act was arguably her most reckless decision since becoming Tory leader. But under this government, as under previous ones, the rest of the environment agenda is much lower-profile – with the arguable exception of the sewage crisis and failing water companies. The environment secretary, Emma Reynolds, has only been in her first cabinet job for five months.