Green Party leader Caroline Lucas has warned that David Cameron's speech this morning showed the Conservative leader's true colours - that despite his green rhetoric, he would put laisser-faire principles before any commitment to meeting climate change targets.
Commenting on David Cameron's speech to the Sustainable Consumption Institute today (1), in which he spoke of a "post-bureaucratic age," Caroline Lucas said:
"'Post-bureaucratic' essentially means Thatcherite. Cameron has shown today that his guiding principle is not that we must make sure we meet our climate targets, it's that profit must come first and government isn't allowed to tell manufacturers what to do."
Lucas: "No time to turn back the clock"
The Green Party leader, whom pollsters have recently tipped to take the Brighton Pavilion seat from Labour at the coming general election, said a Conservative government would essentially turn back the clock - at just the time when Britain needs real leadership to deliver serious progress on climate policy.
She continued:
"We didn't have time to waste last time there was a Conservative government, and we certainly don't have time to turn the clock back now. Labour have been inadequate, but the Tories in government were a lot worse.
"If we have a Conservative government it will be weak on climate change because it will tiptoe round big business. Cameron has shown today that he daren't even legislate for energy-efficient TVs, only 'appeal' to manufacturers to be 'responsible.' Well we've had decades of that, and it hasn't worked. We need a government that's going to take action."
Cameron: "We don't want to resort to legislation" - just use "the power of profit"
The Conservative leader identified five "post-bureaucratic" principles which, he said, if applied to energy policy could help deal with climate change.
He said: "This country emits an astonishing 800,000 tonnes of carbon a year through leaving electrical appliances ticking over, or on standby, when they're not being used. That's completely unsustainable - as well as a colossal waste of money. I believe it's time industry manufactured products that automatically economise on their energy use. Televisions should no longer have standby modes and washing machines should have the 'low-energy' mode as standard. This will not require a giant leap in innovation. It's just the responsible thing to do."
But he went on to say that he would not legislate to bring this about. Instead, he was setting up a working group, chaired by shadow climate change minister Greg Barker, which would work with manufacturers to bring about their "cooperation."
"We're not doing this to boss business around - we're doing this because we don't want to resort to regulation."
Mr Cameron said a Conservative government should "go with the grain of human nature" and use "the power of profit" to encourage a more environment-friendly pattern of behaviour.
Note
1. See "Cameron outlines 'carrot not stick' approach to make UK greener," http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/16/david-cameron-climate-change-plan.