Which of these bald men would make the best advert for a comb?
25 April 2010
Darren Johnson looks at The Guardian’s assessment of Labour and Lib Dem eco-policy
Damian Carrington's “compare and contrast” article on Labour and Lib Dem eco-policies in today’s Guardian was a bit like assessing which of two bald men was the best advert for a comb.
Look at the defining issue of climate change. According to this article, the Lib Dems would “Unilaterally commit the UK to a 30% emissions cut by 2020.” But scientists say we need at least a 40% cut by then, just to have a 50% chance of avoiding dangerous climate change.
Would you board an aeroplane that scientists said had a 50% chance of crashing, just because the Lib Dems assured you it was airworthy?
The Lib Dems don’t even have the policies to get us in the air. Their “£400 eco cashback scheme for new double glazing, boilers or solar panels” could simply not deliver the requisite emissions cuts. To meet the right targets, we need a £4bn-a-year programme to ensure all UK homes are energy-efficient. The Lib Dems “pledge to redirect £3.1bn” to green job-creation – but the Green Party has shown that to achieve the necessary emissions reductions the UK would need a £44bn investment package, creating a million green jobs.
The problem with the Lib Dems is that you simply can’t trust a word they say. They say they want renewable energy, but Lib Dems have opposed windfarm proposals in Cornwall, Cumbria, Devon and Worcestershire. They say they would tackle aviation emissions, but they’ve avidly supported airport expansions in Birmingham, Carlisle, Exeter, Liverpool, Manchester and Norwich. Nationally they’ve spoken favourably of fiscal measures to reduce road traffic – and have voted against such schemes in Edinburgh, Manchester and York. They say they don’t want new roadbuilding – but in fact they”ve been saying this since Paddy Ashdown’s time, while supporting new roads from Newbury to the M74 and the proposed new Lancaster Northern bypass.
Yet somehow, the Lib Dems would end up with a zero-carbon economy by 2050? Well even if they did, that target is twenty years too late to satisfy the science.
The best thing Nick Clegg has said recently was this: “choose the only party that was taking a stand on saving the planet well before it became fashionable.” On behalf of the Green Party I’d like to say: Thank you, Nick.
Meanwhile Labour is even worse – on aviation, roadbuilding, coal power stations, you name it. As with the Lib Dems, “Other new pledges concentrated on industrial policy.” Yes, and as with the Lib Dems it’s all rather tacked-on to business as usual. Labour want just 5,000 eco-trade apprenticeships – the Green Party has identified a need for 350,000 training places. And Labour won’t even commit to the 2020 emissions target that gives us only a 50:50 chance of not crashing.
Let’s face it, there is still only one Green Party. And even a couple of Green MPs could cut through Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative greenwash right there in the House of Commons and force the debate to get real.
Darren Johnson is the Green Party’s spokesperson on trade and industry and its candidate in Lewisham Deptford.
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