Today’s Guardian reports on Labour’s plan to abandon renewable energy targets: Leaked documents detail strategy for climate change U-turn.

It seems that John Hutton at the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform thinks the 20% target for renewables is too tough for the Armed Forces and big business to meet. And he is arguing that the UK should work with the enviro-sceptics in Europe to get EU-wide targets lowered.

Bringing the Ministry of Defence into the frame may be a smokescreen - Labour ministers can use national security to plead urgency, while being secretive on any details. But also John Hutton has a constituency interest in defence; his Barrow-in-Furness constituency is the home of BAE Systems (formerly Vickers) who make nuclear subs. My brother, Phil, and I marched against nuclear missiles in Barrow back in the 1980s. Now the Cold War is over and the fight against climate change is on. It would be shameful if one minister’s special pleading weakened not only Government but European policy on climate change.

The Labour in Europe website claims, “Labour has shown consistent leadership in the field of climate change, at home and abroad, by setting bold targets and pursuing ambitious policies.” Well it’s certainly an ambitious policy to push a U-turn on climate change targets while expecting us to believe the Government takes the issue at all seriously.

As the Director of Greenpeace says: “Gordon Brown is now in danger of surrendering any claim to international leadership on climate change and would rather support nuclear power and scupper the European renewable energy target.”

* Bridget Fox is Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidate for Islington South & Finsbury.

It’s not just the UK that goes to the polls next week. France will elect its first truly post-war President on 6th May.

“I’m not issuing any voting instructions. The French citizens who voted for me are free to follow their conscience and make their choice”. So says Francois Bayrou, the ALDE-backed candidate, contemplating the Sego vs Sarko run-off.

But how should a conscientious liberal vote? Bayrou famously joked that the others offer a choice between the woman who wants France to be like Scandinavia and the man who wants France to be like the USA.

Either would break new ground. Segolene would be France’s first woman President (and I confess that ‘President Royal’ is nearly as pleasing a title as that of the Philippines’ leading Catholic, Cardinal Sin). Sarkozy would be France’s first immigrant President – ironic, given his description of poorer immigrants as ‘scum’.

Segolene would boost the minimum wage while closing tax loopholes for the rich, while Sarkozy would improve tax incentives for people to work longer hours and restrict unemployment benefit. Social justice vs economic reform – a familiar dilemma. In fact, France needs to do some of both.

Unlike Sarkozy, Segolene promises support for gay marriage & adoption (neatly called homoparentalité), and would reintroduce long-term immigrants’ citizenship rights which her rival cut back when a minister; while Sarkozy now supports ‘affirmative action’ for ethnic minorities.

Segolene is not liberal across the board: she opposes the decriminalisation of cannabis, and believes prostitution is contrary to international human rights law. She favours compulsory parenting classes and a form of civilian national service. Meanwhile in a throwback to Thatcherism, Sarkozy is promising to introduce the right to buy council homes.

Segolene would move from nuclear power to renewables, Sarkozy would maintain it (Bayrou fudged nuclear power but was stronger on green taxes). Both favour cutting VAT on environmentally-friendly goods & services.

If I had a vote, I’d go for Segolene. But not all liberals agree. One friend, who is backing Sarkozy not Segolene, explains it’s because of the passion the former showed when he came to speak to ex-pat voters - and because he has shown the vision for change that she feels is needed to lead France in a globalised 21st century.

French is a wonderful language for election slogans, even if in translation they sound like insurance ads. Sego offers us ‘Plus juste, la France sera plus forte’ while Sarkozy says ‘Ensemble tout devient possible’. If he doesn’t win the election, he could enter it for Eurovision instead.

Meanwhile, Bayrou is capitalising on his 18% of the vote to launch a new party, the Parti démocrate (slogan “La France de toutes nos forces”). He says “There are from now on in our country three political forces; right, left, and centre. And it is the centre which is new.” It remains to be seen if the Parti démocrate will offer a distinctive view while avoiding the marginalisation of previous centre parties in France. As Liberal Democrats we should welcome the attempt.

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Bridget Fox is the Liberal Democrat PPC for Islington South & Finsbury

Islington’s Lib Dem council has broken new ground by setting up a £3M climate change fund to take local action on climate change, through promoting renewable energy, energy conservation and sustainable transport (walking & cycling). This is despite Islington’s council tax rise being around 1.5% (continuing to deliver a longstanding pledge to keep Islington’s tax below the London average) and giving residents like me who pay by direct debit a £20 discount. In a neat twist, there’s an invitation to give the £20 to the climate change fund - a free ‘I feel good’ moment with every tax bill…. what’s not to like?

Low taxes; easy green hit; you’d think the local Tories would be ecstatic: but no.

Party chair Margaret Reese says “It is not for councils to tackle global warming by spending council tax. It’s something governments do internationally.”

Tim Newark, former Conservative council candidate, argued that the council is spending money on a “fashionable theory”. He added: “We have no real scientific proof that links rising carbon emissions and pollution with climate change. Indeed, recently scientists have been arguing that the theory is a lot of hot air. In fact, from 1945 to the early 1970s, when carbon was actually rising because of the post-war boom, global temperatures went down.”

http://www.thecnj.co.uk/islington/031607/news031607_14.html

Bridget Fox is PPC for Islington South & Finsbury