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Political parties clash as climate change returns to the election agenda
27/04/2010
At a Climate Question forum in London yesterday, Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, and his Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green counterparts repeatedly clashed with each other over their green credentials.
The meeting was organised by Ask The Climate Question, a coalition of nine environment and development charities and pressure groups, which has been trying to bring global warming back to the forefront of the election agenda. Until Labour and the Liberal Democrats launched their environment manifestos on Sunday, and the Conservatives launched their quality of life manifesto yesterday, climate change has hardly been mentioned.
Ed Miliband attacked his Conservative shadow, Greg Clark, over the Conservative’s slogan of “vote blue go green”. Miliband raised claims that the Tories were fielding a number of climate-sceptic candidates such as Torbay candidate Marcus Wood, and that climate change was at the bottom of a list of priorities for would-be Conservative MPs. He went on to hit out at his Liberal Democrat counterpart, Simon Hughes, over what he called the "massive hole" in the Lib Dem climate strategy, which he said was left by the party's refusal to countenance nuclear power.
Nuclear power is one of the starkest differences, with the Labour Government and the Tories embracing it as part of a low-carbon future because it produces virtually no CO2 in generating electricity, whilst the Liberal Democrats and the Greens both rule out a generation of new nuclear power stations that the other parties are contemplating.
Mr Hughes insists it is expensive and would take too long to come on-stream, that the waste couldn't be dealt with safely, and would undermine investment in renewables: "It's a completely foolish delusion. We don't need it and we shouldn't have it."
Hughes went on to argue that it was too late for Labour to claim it was green. "Ed talks a good talk, but renewables targets are not met, five per cent not 10 per cent, fuel poverty not met, air quality targets not met ... the Government hasn't delivered," he said.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/for-one-night-only-climate-change-back-on-election-agenda-1955115.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7108959.ece
At a Climate Question forum in London yesterday, Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, and his Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green counterparts repeatedly clashed with each other over their green credentials.
The meeting was organised by Ask The Climate Question, a coalition of nine environment and development charities and pressure groups, which has been trying to bring global warming back to the forefront of the election agenda. Until Labour and the Liberal Democrats launched their environment manifestos on Sunday, and the Conservatives launched their quality of life manifesto yesterday, climate change has hardly been mentioned.
Ed Miliband attacked his Conservative shadow, Greg Clark, over the Conservative’s slogan of “vote blue go green”. Miliband raised claims that the Tories were fielding a number of climate-sceptic candidates such as Torbay candidate Marcus Wood, and that climate change was at the bottom of a list of priorities for would-be Conservative MPs. He went on to hit out at his Liberal Democrat counterpart, Simon Hughes, over what he called the "massive hole" in the Lib Dem climate strategy, which he said was left by the party's refusal to countenance nuclear power.
Nuclear power is one of the starkest differences, with the Labour Government and the Tories embracing it as part of a low-carbon future because it produces virtually no CO2 in generating electricity, whilst the Liberal Democrats and the Greens both rule out a generation of new nuclear power stations that the other parties are contemplating.
Mr Hughes insists it is expensive and would take too long to come on-stream, that the waste couldn't be dealt with safely, and would undermine investment in renewables: "It's a completely foolish delusion. We don't need it and we shouldn't have it."
Hughes went on to argue that it was too late for Labour to claim it was green. "Ed talks a good talk, but renewables targets are not met, five per cent not 10 per cent, fuel poverty not met, air quality targets not met ... the Government hasn't delivered," he said.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/for-one-night-only-climate-change-back-on-election-agenda-1955115.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7108959.ece
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