diff --git a/lib/cylc/__init__.py b/lib/cylc/__init__.py
index 4f43094e34a..b960ce0b15d 100644
--- a/lib/cylc/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/cylc/__init__.py
@@ -23,8 +23,7 @@
 
 
 LOG = logging.getLogger('cylc')  # Acceptable?
-if hasattr(logging, 'NullHandler'):  # Back compat Python <2.7
-    LOG.addHandler(logging.NullHandler())  # Start with a null handler
+LOG.addHandler(logging.NullHandler())  # Start with a null handler
 
 
 def environ_init():