Appalling Lib Dem Record on Green Issues
27 March 2006
- GREENS SET OUT FACTS TO COUNTER LIB DEM 'GREENSPIN' (1)
Greens today urged commentators and the public to take Lib Dem claimsto be 'green' and 'anti-nuclear' with an extremely large pinch ofsalt. The true picture is revealed by the factual evidence of Lib Demfailure to stand by their own policies and principles in the lastseven years in Coalition. On issues as wide-ranging as GM crops,motorway building, congestion charging and community rights to appealin the planning process, their record is one of abysmal failure.
The Lib Dem leader Nicol Stephen was branded by Friends of the Earthlast year as making 'probably the worst environmental decision evertaken by the Scottish Executive' when approving the M74 motorwayextension, against the findings of an independent public inquiry.
Greens also cited the shocking Lib Dem u-turn on GM crops in 2004,their silence on giving communities the right to appeal planningdecisions and the Lib Dem campaign in Edinburgh against the congestioncharge plan - all examples of Lib Dem party policy being ditched.
On nuclear power the Greens said they could never trust the Lib Demsbecause Lib Dem 'positioning' for marketing purposes in advance of anelection was always more important than delivering when in government.
Greens say the Lib Dems would probably find it easier to cave-in onnuclear power than they did on GM. Their own Lord Thurso haspreviously said he would 'love it' if a nuclear power station wasbuilt at Dounreay - something widely rumoured to be a possibility. TheGreens point to Nicol Stephen's refusal to make nuclear power anon-negotiable issue in any future coalition deal with Labour
Mark Ruskell MSP, Green Party Speaker on the Environment said: "TheLib Dem 'trust us' marketing hype is becoming increasingly fatuous andtransparent, but you have to hand it to them, their spin has trickedmany, hiding a record in government which is riddled withcontradictions and failure. It is important that the public is awareof their poor record on the environment, and on a range of key socialand economic issues.
"Like nuclear power stations, Lib Dems are badged with a square yellowwarning sign to let voters know that appearing green and being greenare two very different things.
"On GM crops, on massive motorway projects, on promoting morepolluting air travel, on community rights to appeal againstdevelopments and on congestion charging the Lib Dems are the oppositeof 'green'. I am sure they will be held to account next May whenpeople will vote for the Green Party to put some backbone intogreening Scottish politics."
"Just take a look at how their conference motions this weekend situncomfortably with current Lib Dem Ministerial decisions. They wantmore cycling, yet Tavish Scott is slashing the budget. They wantaction on aviation as the fastest growing source of climate changepollution, yet their Ministers want to treble air travel and are busyploughing taxpayers money into expansion through the Route DevelopmentFund. They want action to speed up the rail link between Edinburgh andGlasgow, yet their £500m minimum investment in the proposed EdinburghAirport Rail hub will INCREASE journey times. The sheer hypocrisy isas plain as day."
Greens also urged the public to be as wary of the Lib Dems on socialjustice, arguing that their social principles are going the way oftheir environmental principles. Lib Dem proposals to privatise thePost Office is just the start.
Ruskell added: "The decision by Menzies Campbell to surround himselfwith 'economic liberals' means that we now have a third Tory party inScottish politics.'
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Notes to editors
(1) By way of a 'dossier of dodginess' some facts on the Lib Dem record.
- Lib Dems campaigned against congestion charging in Edinburgh,despite it being party policy.
- They voted for, and their Minister approved, GM crops in 2004 in avote in parliament - against party policy. Also, in August 1999Charles Kennedy backed the campaign to end open-air test releases ofGM crops into the environment. Friends of the Earth said at the time:"We are delighted that Charles Kennedy and the Liberal Democrats havedecided to oppose the current farm-scale trials because measures toprotect the environment and neighbouring farmers are not strictenough." Subsequently Ross Finnie, Lib Dem Rural Development Minister,pressed ahead with farm-scale trials, including one in CharlesKennedy's own constituency.
- In 2005, Nicol Stephen, then Lib Dem Transport Minister, wasdescribed by Friends of the Earth as making 'probably the worstenvironmental decision ever taken by the Scottish Executive' whenploughing ahead with the massive M74 urban motorway project whichignored the findings of an independent public inquiry.
- One of the best illustrations of the problem came in March 2005,when Lib Dem environment spokesman Norman Baker attacked theenvironment movement. According to the BBC, he said: "Green groupshave become too muted and the government has got away with more thanit should have got away with." He then singled out "road transport"and aviation, with runway expansion and the growth of cheap airtravel, as environmental problems that were "out of control". Perhapshe was unaware that in Scotland the transport minister getting awaywith it was a Lib Dem?
- Lib Dems have been silent (apart from Donald Gorrie) on Third PartyRights of Appeal, a Lib Dem policy yet being rejected by the ScottishExecutive, even though the public consultation also backed this key'environmental justice' delivery tool.
- Ross Finnie has just announced slashed funds for organic farming,down from over £8m to around £2.3m per year.
- Tavish Scott is promoting the 'trebling' of air travel, the fastestgrowing source of climate pollution and actually funded newnon-lifeline air routes.
- On renewable energy, which is regularly used for Nicol Stephenphoto-shoots, the delivery is in a mess. Despite Scotland being hometo the world's leading marine energy company, the first commercialwave farm will be cited in Portugal - where there is reportedly threetimes as much support.
- In the case of nuclear weapons, the hypocrisy is at least more open.Last year's Lib Dem manifesto for International Affairs shows CharlesKennedy next to a party placard saying "Give Peace A Chance". Insidethe party commits itself to retaining Britain's nuclear arsenal "forthe foreseeable future". Not exactly the John and Yoko meaning ofgiving peace a chance.- Even cycling! In March 2006 it was revealed that public funding tosupport cycling is due to fall from £11.9 million in 2004-05 to £8.3min 2006-07. Over the same period, cycle spending as a proportion ofthe whole transport budget will drop from 1.4% to just 0.6%. In 2004,the Scottish Executive promised to favour cycling as one of the mostenvironmentally-friendly and health-giving forms of transport. Davedu Feu from Spokes, the Lothian cycling group said: "The Lib Dem pridethemselves on their environmental credentials, yet the decline incycle project spending is accelerating due to the personal decisionsof a Lib Dem transport minister."In some other less 'traditionally green' policy areas the Lib Demrecord is also revealing.
ID cardsA more honest Lib Dem slogan might be: "Not even as strong on civilliberties as the Tories." As Mark Oaten, then their Home Affairsspokesman, said: "I want to make the Liberal Democrat position crystalclear: we are fundamentally opposed to ID cards".
However, when the Scottish Parliament voted on a Green motionrejecting ID cards on 24 February 2005, the Lib Dems abstained. Thevote was still won, though, despite this, because every other partyapart from Labour voted for civil liberties, even the Tories.
Post OfficeLib Dems stand for defending public services and local communities,don't they? At their most recent conference, new leader Ming Campbellswept aside arguments in favour of strengthening local economies infavour of Post Office privatisation.
Tuition feesSome people, especially London media, still believe that Lib Dems inScotland have abolished tuition fees. All that's actually happened isthat students pay it later, and it's called something different.
As David Rendel, Lib Dem education spokesman, explained to theCommons: "The exit fee will be paid by approximately the sameproportion of people, because it will be paid on the same means-testedbasis". In other words, Lib Dems in Scotland have merely delayed fees,not abolished them.
AirborneIn February 2004, the Lib Dem voted to axe the pioneering AirborneInitiative even though it was cited as an example of Lib Dem approachto countering re-offending in young people in their manifesto in 2003. The vote was very close, just 63 to 61 after a long campaignspearheaded by Robin Harper MSP, and with Lib Dem even speaking out tosave the project, yet voting against it.
