UK CONSERVATIVE'S WISE WORDS IN PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE ON CLIMATE

 In a continuation of yesterday's post I am going to quote another section of Claire Coutinho's speech in the debate on the next round of CO2 reductions (which were approved by the Labour Government).

Here is the quote:

 "The unelected Climate Change Committee is using taxpayers’ funds to try to silence elected representatives rather than focusing on getting its costings right. Everybody in this House should think that is shameful. If the committee was wrong by a factor of three on offshore wind—something that we have better evidence for than pretty much anything else in the market—how can we trust any of the rest of its analysis?

Let us look at some of the committee’s claims. It claims that a low-carbon electricity supply is “cheaper per unit” than high-carbon electricity. Well, if your numbers are out by a factor of three, perhaps you might think that. It also says that

“most businesses will not be…affected by Net Zero”,

particularly in the services sector. How does it justify that? Let me assure the House, if net zero blocks the advance of AI in this country, that will have a catastrophic impact on our services sector. Here is another claim:

“a reduction in meat…and dairy”

will mean a healthier diet. Who are they to tell us what to eat and to give us nutritional advice? The committee makes claim after claim and sweeping statement after sweeping statement with nobody holding it accountable. Yet this advice—this target—will affect almost every part of normal life.

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Hon. Members may argue that we need strict climate targets to provide certainty for jobs—that is what the Minister just said—but that is nonsense. The country doing the best at creating clean tech jobs is China, which is now the world’s largest polluter. Hon. Members may also say that this is about our moral duty to fix climate change, but I will remind them that every time a British factory shuts here, where we have some of the cleanest electricity in the world, and we import those same goods back from coal-powered China, we are not helping climate change; instead, we are increasing global emissions. Before Labour Members get on their high horse, I will remind them that the Conservatives are the only party to call for the measurement of the offshoring of emissions. Labour does not want to know because it does not care".

Both the tone and content of this speech indicate a clear shift in the policy of the Conservative opposition compared to their stance when in government. It is welcome, but frustratingly it is too late to change the direction of the new government. If only this transformation had occurred before the election.