Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband are in Turkey this week at COP31 – the international climate change conference – talking more hot air about stopping climate change. The reality that our left-leaning politicians must accept is that climate change is already here and there is nothing we can do about it – certainly not impoverishing Britain at a critical time in our cost-of-living crisis.
Cutting Electric Vehicle (EV) targets is just one practical step towards reversing green economic damage. This week, Louise Haigh, de facto deputy prime minister, has finalised a plan to cut the target for EV sales by a quarter so that the British car industry doesn’t face crippling fines for missing the 2035 target of 100% EVs.
Some Labour backbenchers fear this represents backsliding on their green agenda and yet it is Labour MPs in Red Wall seats who are quite rightly pushing for a more realistic approach to net zero that doesn’t tank the economy – and doesn’t cost thousands of blue-collar jobs. Their growing objections are solidifying around the government’s newly-introduced Energy Independence Bill that would outlaw any new exploration of the North Sea.
Dissenting backbenchers say it is perverse and hypocritical to import vast amounts of gas and oil from abroad – making the US and Norway rich – while choking off our energy resources in our own backyard. The Jackdaw gas field has been opened, but the bigger Rosebank oil field is hanging in the balance as eco-warrior MPs argue their case.
“We think that energy security is national security,” says Henry Tufnell, Labour MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire. “We think it can bring huge benefits for economic growth and ultimately protect lots of jobs.”
David Bucknall, CEO of INEOS Energy, has also waded in, saying, “the pipelines, platforms, ports, and skilled workforce needed for energy production are already in place. We could use these resources to meet the needs of UK consumers more quickly, cheaply, and securely than bringing energy in from elsewhere”. The practical sense of this is clear but Tufnel and like-minded Labour MPs are up against the monolithic green machine that has captured the minds of so many politicians in recent decades.
King Canute failing to stop the tide coming in is an age-old metaphor for human vanity in the face of nature. It most especially applies to the politicians at COP31 this week who think they can take actions to halt climate change, a process that has occurred over millions of years.
In our prehistoric past, Britain has sweltered in jungle heat then been coated with ice sheets. Today we are in an interglacial period with slight warming that should be welcomed as it greens the world, providing longer growing periods for crops.
Britain is already an impressive wine producer and tuna can be caught off our southern coasts. Better summers will give us a booming tourist industry. Adaptation is the name of the game, not a chimerical attempt to halt the process altogether.
The net zero band wagon has only gained momentum because left-wing politicians and activists see it as an excuse to bring down capitalism and industrialisation. But it’s economic growth that funds the welfare state and all the hand-outs they want. Without domestic energy production and dynamic industries, there are fewer jobs and fewer taxes paid. It is a doom loop that trade unions have long opposed and so now do some right-minded Labour backbenchers mindful of the fate of their constituents.
There is no longer a consensus across political parties about climate change and both the Conservatives and Reform have made clear their opposition to net zero and the national self-harm caused by it. International conferences like COP31 are way behind the curve and just wasting time and effort.
This week in Turkey Burnham is spouting a whole lot of baloney about Britain being a leader in green matters – a race no sane country wants to win – but he is also a political opportunist who knows he cannot afford to lose votes in the next election. It is up to Labour backbenchers to strongly make their case for a big dose of common sense that brings back energy production and industrial jobs to our shores. It is a battle for the future of this country that we cannot afford to lose.