Sirs,
Can I offer my thanks to Dave Waltham for his thoughtfully scripted open letter. To me, the recent Govt. announcement (which really should have been made in parliament to our elected representatives) highlights very well some of the, at best, incredibly muddled short-term thinking coming from those Conservatives currently in power.
I too was extremely disappointed (though sadly hardly surprised) to see support being offered to the embattled PM for these hugely retrogressive (and potentially catastrophic) decisions coming from the incumbent MP here and his Nat Con / New Con wing of that party.
As Professor Waltham clearly points out, those who will ultimately pay the highest cost for procrastination and further delays made by this government look set to be the poorest and the most vulnerable. This need not be the case.
Yes, of course, it is reasonable to point out that a transition over to a ‘greener’ future will incur costs- technological advances seldom come free of charge. Yet rather than doing what seems ever more common amongst the powers that be, namely kicking the can down the road (potentially leaving this, the clean up of rivers, the maintenance issues surrounding public buildings, the tackling of NHS waiting lists, the cutting of national debt below 98.8% of GDP, the sorting out of the Brexit mess and much more besides, to an incoming government) perhaps this government could see it within itself to take at least some useful positive action in its remaining time in power?
Instead of continuing to hand massive govt subsidies into the pockets of polluting fossil fuel giants and writing off massive sums of Covid fraud, a more responsible government would actively work to see (and have already seen) this public money redirected to lessen the burden on ordinary people associated with the necessary transition to protect our planet and move our economy over to a much greener, sustainable future.
We could (and in my opinion, should) be massively promoting the employment opportunities and increasing investment in more sustainable industries. We should be supporting development of the necessary technologies we need to meet our climate obligations.
Hoping that those currently in and around power will genuinely act in the best interests of the people and our planet, rather than the vested interests of their chums, donors and/or climate change deniers, does however seem to be becoming an increasingly overly optimistic occupation.
To point at other huge economies (as some do) stating their carbon emissions are higher would seem to somewhat miss the point that no one country can fix these global issues alone. It is necessary that every country (certainly every industrialised country) urgently takes action. If truth be told, a fair number of those countries often castigated for currently emitting huge amounts of carbon are already making substantial efforts to slash their carbon imprint.
This is an area where we should be helping to lead the way, not just in making positive sounding noises, but in tangible action.
We all deserve better.
Yours,
Pete Force-Jones
True & Fair Party Parliamentary Candidate for East Wiltshire
Sunflowers at Grafton look to raise funds for added security after their minibus was stolen and burned out
