Green Party MP Caroline Lucas responds to Boris Johnson's infrastructure speech

30 June 2020

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas has responded to what Boris Johnson is expected to say later today in his Rebuilding after Covid speech.

Lucas said:

"Boris Johnson had the chance – for once in his life – to show some real leadership and he’s blown it. The only ‘bounce’ these plans give us is a bounce straight into an accelerating climate crisis which he does next to nothing to address.

"The point about Roosevelt's New Deal was that it was visionary - for the 1930s. Ninety years on, we need a different vision so not a New Deal, but a Green New Deal and that has to go far beyond tree-planting, welcome though that is.

"There is nothing here which suggests that the PM has understood the size and the scale of the transformation that’s needed at this pivotal moment.

"We need a new approach to managing our economy, abandoning the fixation with endless GDP growth and focusing instead on an economy which delivers health, personal well-being, and a restored and thriving natural environment.

"That is a society which would stand the test of time – for everyone."

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