Liberal Democrats and Greens stress that this is ‘the climate election!’
- Lib Dems admit target to be carbon free by 2045 is difficult but still deliverable
- Greens say we cannot continue with business as usual and admits fight against climate change will cost money
Extinction Rebellion have been engaging with election candidates and constituents about addressing climate change.
At an election hustings in Chorlton, local candidates were invited but the only two in attendance were Liberal Democrat candidate John Leech, campaigning to retake the Withington seat he lost to Labour in 2015, and Green Party candidate Lucy Bannister.
In addition to reiterating his party’s stance that Brexit needs to be stopped, John Leech said climate emergency was not going to be fixed in isolation from the rest of Europe. He said being at the heart of the EU and tackling the problem internationally would be more effective in enlisting more reluctant countries.
Lucy Bannister said this was the climate election, stressing that in recent years scientists have warned climate change is coming much faster than expected. She said only the Greens’ manifesto plans would help Britain reach carbon zero by 2030, in contrast to the Liberal Democrats who believe it can’t be reached until 2045 at the earliest.
“We are on the brink of climate chaos and we are facing a climate emergency” Ms Bannister said, stating that it will cost money, and involve borrowing, to fight the crisis,” she said.
The Greens are pledging to move towards renewable forms of energy, promising 17% of energy will come from wind power by 2030 and propose a carbon tax on imports of energy and fossil fuels to compel companies in to moving towards renewables.
John Leech believes their plans are achievable but would like to see them accelerated if they make significant progress in the first few years
He said: “We have a credible plan. We will spend £100bn to generate 80% of electricity from renewables by 2030.”
This also included installing solar panels in all new homes, investing in tidal wave energy, planting 60m trees a year, ensuring all petrol and diesel cars would be phased out by 2030 and a new colour co-ordinated scheme for plastics, to differentiate between recyclable and non-recyclable.