As I am writing this blog - Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth and the Good Law Project – are in the High Court taking legal action
over the government’s weak and inadequate plan to meet its legally-binding
climate targets. Even the Government’s own Climate Change Committee (its
independent advisor on climate issues) stated in June last year that that there
are only credible plans for less than a fifth of the emissions cuts needed to
meet the UK’s Sixth Carbon Budget, which starts in 2033.
FOE
lawyer said: “We
believe the government’s revised climate action plan is a complete pipe dream. Climate
action is not only good for the planet, it’s essential for creating new jobs
and business opportunities, boosting energy security and reducing our reliance
on costly fossil fuels".
Client Earth lawyer said: “The UK government
continues to rely on pie-in-the-sky measures to address a crisis that needs
real, immediate action – an approach the UK’s flagship law the Climate Change
Act was designed to prevent”. Legal Director of the Good Law
Project said: “The government has admitted to us that, on its own assessments, its net
zero plan is fraught with risks. With so much at stake for our planet and our
economy, that needs to change. The sooner we can see what the risks are, the
sooner the government will have to face up to the shortcomings in its net zero
strategy and take action to fix them”. In their successful legal
challenge in 2022, the High Court ruled the government’s climate action plan had
breached the Climate Change Act 2008 (CCA) and ordered it to revise its
strategy. Yet since the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan was published, the
government has watered down key policies such more ambitious environmental requirements
in Building Regulations, and has handed major oil companies the right to drill for
oil and gas in 24 new licences in the North Sea. Meanwhile CO2 levels continue
to rise Met Office predicts that the 2024 increase in CO2 levels will surpass critical trajectories, crucial for limiting global warming to 1.5⁰C.
Despite the Tories’ repeated
claims that the UK is a “world leader” in climate policy, the risk tables
reveal the Government has declared its own policies rely on technology that has
“never been deployed at scale”, are “not… possible at current funding levels”
and beset with “inherent uncertainties and risk”.
All of this underlines
the importance of electing MPs whose portfolio clearly demonstrates their
support for action to combat ‘global heating’, the addressing the increasing
problems cause by the water companies seemingly endless dumping of raw sewage into
our lakes and rivers, and supporting Zero Hour – the campaign for the Climate
and Ecology Bill (formerly the CEE Bill).
Please make your vote count for climate and nature.
I'll venture to suggest that the only significant party with policies that actually relate to the existential crises of climate and nature is the Greens. Voting for their candidate in a seat that's 'safe' for one of the large parties (due to our dysfunctional first past the post system) sends a message that there's an increasing number of voters who want green action, not just words and delays. It might also save the Green candidate's deposit.
ReplyDeleteIn seats that are marginal or swing - maybe vote for the candidate - apart from Reform? - most likely to remove a Conservative. Or in the case of a Labour marginal, vote Liberal and hope that a hung parliament will at least lead to better debate about policies, especially that austerity is a choice not an economic law of nature, and more consultation with the public (and a change of voting system!)
Whilst I agree totally with you Colin and that would be my favoured choice, we have a situation in Stratford where the Conservatives have (had?) a large majority with Nadhim Zahawi in the current post. The only chance (and it's a good one) will be to vote for a potentially very good LibDem candidate and part of the reason for me starting this blkog is to encourage former conservative voters (and even deep greens!) to vote lib dem.
ReplyDeleteThat's the dilemma, in a sense, in any seat where there's a possibility of change. If it's replacing a Tory with a LibDem, I'm with you, whatever their weaknesses on overall green policies and economics. (With a hung parliament I'd and Libs getting traction on policy, I'd hope they'd also demand a proper consultation on proportional representation - and not just a weak referendum in one, badly explained, system! Maybe a citizens assembly on electoral reform...)
DeleteIn Sheffield Hallam, my nextdoor constituency, by contrast, there's a Labour/Lib marginal; where the Labour incumbent is a young 'GND champion', who's likely to be whipped into neoliberal line by Starmer/Reeves; and the Lib man is not someone I'd describe as a 'good candidate'. (He's a long-term councillor, some might describe as a 'hack', wheeler-dealer or similar derogatory terms....). Not a dilemma I have to deal with, thankfully!
I think it's 'horses for courses' Colin and in some cases it might be a Labour or Independant prospective MP who needs your vote if it's going to oust the Conservatives. Oh how we need proportional representation . . .
ReplyDelete