British political party takes U-Turn on the environment

As election losses piled up in recent years, Britain’s Conservative party was in desperate need of a makeover. David Cameron emerged from their ranks with the idea of a kinder and greener Conservative party. With a near lock on next May’s election, are Conservatives actually living or selling green?

The revamp began in 2006 with the slogan, “go green, vote blue.” Cameron amped up his public appearances handing out recycling boxes  and began riding his bike to work. His shoes and briefcase, however, traveled in a separate car. The party got back on track working with Labour legislation like the Climate Change Act that legally calls for an 80% cut in carbon emissions by 2050.

Their support of green legislation is to be commended but recent blunders have cast doubt on the Conservatives. Cameron advocates “green growth” - a blend of economic proliferation and a sustainable environment.  Apparently Shadow Business Secretary Ken Clarke didn’t get the message. He said “those few wild and open spaces that we have left in Britain should not be used for wind turbines.” Clarke later retracted the statement with no discussion of the fact that wind farm applications are declined twice as much under Conservative councils than that of Labour. The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) said,

“All senior politicians need to make sure that their language doesn't give investors second thoughts about coming to the UK. Industry has a job to reassure everyone that delivering on the 2020 [carbon reduction] targets is not going to negatively impact on the environment and that any other impact is outweighed by benefits for climate change and jobs that wind energy will bring. That includes the Tory front bench.”

Even the Conservative Mayor of London has been out of step with the green message. Boris Johnson slashed the Greater London Authority’s climate team almost by half and tossed out plans  for a surcharge on gas hungry cars in the city. Hopefully David Cameron can foster unity within his party and start his country on the road to green jobs and economic recovery.