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.
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4 Comments
Its funny that New Labour can find billions from the public purse to replace Trident, even though in the modern age of asymetric warfare, terrorism and competition for depleting natural resourses they are unlikely to be of any use in future conflicts. Yet for a far bigger threat to our national security; global warming – no analysis at all appears to have been made for how much we will have to spend on contigency plans, emergency provision and so forth. New Orleans should have been a warning, but New Labour are continuing as business as usual.
What’s fascinating is the complete lack of strategy by the Labour Govt.
If they didn’t think they could meet these targets why did they propose/agree to them?
It seems that Blair backed himself into a corner to agree something he couldn’t fulfil – it’s slapdash government over long-term thinking.
So, nothing new there.
Look on the bright side, folks !
It will speed the day when new nuclear power stations are given the go-ahead, a move, which, if I understand James Lovelock’s ‘Revenge of Gaia’ correctly, can’t come soon enough..
All those media types in the last week asking “What is the point of the Lib Dems ? ” have their answer.
New Labour cannot be trusted on the environment (and New Tories cannot be trusted on anything).