Green comment on Brown reshuffle
03 October 2008
NEWS: Green Party | www.greenparty.org.uk
For immediate use, Friday 3 October 2008
GREEN COMMENT ON BROWN RESHUFFLE
Mandelson is the wrong man; Miliband has a lot to prove.
Green Party leader and MEP Caroline Lucas has criticised the appointment of EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson to the Cabinet, arguing that his pro-corporate European record makes him the wrong man at a time of crisis brought on by underregulation and corporate mismanagement.
Dr Lucas has regularly crossed swords with Commissioner Mandelson at the European Parliament, as leader of the Greens on the Committee on International Trade, and vice-chair of the Intergroup on Globalisation.
She said:
"If there was ever a time to put the high priest of corporate globalisation in charge of regulating our wayward economy, this isn't it. You might as well get Al Capone to run a Young Offenders Institution.
"As EU Trade Commissioner, Mandelson has bullied his way through countless developing countries, demanding the sell-off of public services and trade rules for corporate convenience instead of public protection. Is that really what we want for the UK economy too?"
Dr Lucas welcomed the creation of a new cabinet-level Department for Energy and Climate Change, but warned that Ed Miliband has to prove he is up to the job:
"It's a good move to give responsibility for climate change to a minister who also has a remit to produce real solutions.
"Ed Miliband now has the opportunity no previous climate change minister had - to get out there and solve the problem, by killing the wasteful, dangerous nuclear programme and replacing it with a massive investment in clean energy and green jobs.
"But it remains to be seen whether Miliband really has the guts to take on the greatest threat to our security, or whether he'll fold in front of corporate lobbyists."
ENDS
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