Horwood calls delegates to green action (Cheltenham Liberal Democrats)

Cheltenham Liberal Democrats <info@cheltlibdems.org.uk>

Horwood calls delegates to green action

September 17, 2007 9:54 PM

Liberal Democrat shadow environment minister Martin Horwood MP today called on delegates at the party's annual conference in Brighton to back far-reaching measures to tackle climate change. The Cheltenham MP spoke before delegates voted overwhelmingly to accept the proposals in the policy document Zero Carbon Britain.

He opened by condemning the government's record: "Labour in government has failed to tackle CO2 emissions. You cannot say this often enough: under Labour in power, carbon emissions have gone up not down."

He contrasted the Liberal Democrat proposals with the Conservatives new "Quality of Life" commission report:

"If you want high speed rail and a well thought out plan of how to finance it, look here not there. If you want the most ambitious long-term goals for carbon emission reduction, look here not there. And if you want measures to make the response to climate change achievable and acceptable to the poorest countries in the world, look here not there."

He rejected some delegates calls to include nuclear power in the Liberal Democrat plans, calling for "a clear commitment to carbon reductions without leaving a poisonous nuclear legacy to our children when we haven't even worked out what to do with the waste we have. Nuclear is unaffordable, unsafe, unpopular and above all unnecessary." The nuclear option was defeated by a large majority.

"When the Green Alliance ranked the three parties on their environmental policies," he concluded, "they gave the Liberal Democrats three green stars, the government one and the Tories none. If you want action now, don't go blue, go green with us."