How Green are our Green Parties? : The Green Standard Report
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MI Summary
Full article: How Green are our Green Parties? : The Green Standard Report
David Cameron’s Conservatives have given the environmental cause a profile greater than it has enjoyed for many years, and put pressure on the government to deliver. But even on climate change they still have very few policy positions, and there is therefore currently insufficient ground for confidence that they would deliver in government.
Labour deserves much credit for its international leadership on climate change. Very few other countries have done as much as the UK. But a change in prime minister has not changed the significant disconnect between this and domestic action on climate change. The Labour government, despite displaying international leadership on climate change, is failing on its carbon emission reduction and renewables targets.
The Liberal Democrats have received three green lights by offering the strongest set of policies on climate change, green taxation and green living. They have delivered the most substantive policy commitments, even though their leadership has not been as high profile on the environment as that of the Conservatives. But like all the parties, they have failed to give sufficient attention to policies that will protect and enhance our countryside and wildlife.
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Executive Summary
This assessment has been conducted by the UK’s leading environment groups. It goes beyond the environmental beauty contest of party political debate at Westminster, and examines the ambitions, actions and commitments of the three main political parties. Our aim has been to strip away the rhetoric and offer a robust account of where the parties stand in relation to a set of challenges that will define the 21st century.
We welcome the prominence that the three main parties are now giving to the environment. We welcome the urgency in the language and aspirations of all three parties in relation to climate change, and in particular, the shift that this represents in relation to Labour and the Conservatives. But we are seriously concerned that all three parties are still showing far less interest in the protection and enhancement of the countryside and biodiversity, and their importance to people.
Our analysis has left us disappointed by the disconnect in many, but not all, areas between the parties’ aspirations and the limited proposals for action put forward to date. In our view no mainstream party is yet providing consistent leadership to match the breadth or the urgency of the challenge our society faces. We recognise that all three parties are on a journey in this area. But for all our sakes they need to accelerate the pace of change. People are looking for and need leadership which delivers.
This assessment is based on The Green Standard, a set of six robust environmental leadership tests launched in February this year. The report uses a traffic light system to score the parties against these tests: green to indicate support for both their ambition and commitments; amber to indicate a mixed picture in relation to their ambition and commitments; and red in areas where we are very concerned by both the effect of a party’s approach and a lack of positive commitments.
Conservative Party
David Cameron’s Conservatives have given the environmental cause a profile greater than it has enjoyed for many years, and put pressure on the government to deliver. But even on climate change they still have very few policy positions, and there is therefore currently insufficient ground for confidence that they would deliver in government. The position is similar on the broader environmental agenda, where they are rhetorically strong but lack clear commitments to deliver on their aspirations. Given the stark gap between their ambition in many areas and the limited number of Conservative policy positions on the environment they have not received any green lights in this assessment.
We have followed with interest the party’s policy review process, and recognise that at this stage in the political cycle no opposition party will have definitive policy positions in all areas. But considerable uncertainty surrounds the future direction of Conservative policy on the environment. The Quality of Life Commission led by John Gummer and Zac Goldsmith has attracted most attention, but the Competitiveness Commission headed by John Redwood is equally significant and offers very different analysis and recommendations to those we are expecting from the Quality of Life group.
Labour Party
Labour deserves much credit for its international leadership on climate change. Very few other countries have done as much as the UK. But a change in prime minister has not changed the significant disconnect between this and domestic action on climate change. The Labour government, despite displaying international leadership on climate change, is failing on its carbon emission reduction and renewables targets. And it has not taken a consistently positive or ambitious approach to the natural environment agenda, for example, so far failing to introduce a long-promised marine bill.
The government’s planning proposals and changes to regional government are damaging to both their climate change aspirations and the natural environment. The last budget was one of the greenest put forward by Gordon Brown as chancellor, but much more is needed given the decline since 1997 in green taxes as a proportion of tax revenue. Labour therefore only receives one green light.
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats have received three green lights by offering the strongest set of policies on climate change, green taxation and green living. They have delivered the most substantive policy commitments, even though their leadership has not been as high profile on the environment as that of the Conservatives. But like all the parties, they have failed to give sufficient attention to policies that will protect and enhance our countryside and wildlife.
The Liberal Democrats’ proposals for domestic and international action on climate change mitigation are in our view uniquely consistent with the urgency of this challenge. They have also embraced green taxes in a way not done by the other parties. But their approach to the broader environmental agenda is far less impressive. On planning and the natural environment, the Liberal Democrats are either uninterested, out of tune with our aspirations, or lack clear commitments to act.
Environmental issues present profound challenges for this generation of politicians. In the run up to the next General Election, we challenge the parties to be bolder and to convert the areas where we have scored them red and amber into green. The parties’ performances in relation to our tests are not static and our assessment represents a snapshot of where they stand at this moment in time. There is considerable scope for improvement and we hope that all parties will work to embrace and deliver on the challenges we have set out.
Tackling issues like climate change will require all government departments and every level of government to play their full part. Only strong political leadership will drive the change that is needed across government and lead a collective effort on the scale necessary to bring about a sustainable lifestyle for all. We need leaders with the courage to take action today. If they do not, businesses and individuals cannot play their full part. We will redouble our efforts to encourage politicians of all parties, businesses and the general public to accelerate the transition to a sustainable society that operates within environmental limits.
- Source: Link to Full Report
