Back to General Election 2024 page.
You can watch the recording of the meeting on YouTube – https://youtube.com/live/_nyCRV9xJ0M or embedded below.
Robert Thorniley-Walker’s context sheet – pdf.
We were joined by:
- Green Party – PPC Kevin Foster
- Labour Party – PPC Tom Wilson
- Liberal Democrat Party – Election Agent Duncan Ross Russell who read statements on behalf of PPC Daniel Callaghan
Brief statements were read on behalf of some of the other candidates.
You can read about the upcoming election on our General Election 2024 page.
Stop Press: Manifestos Published here are Friends of the Earth’s Initial Response:
FoE thoughts on Liberal Democrat Party manifesto: 10th June
The Liberal Democrats are the first of the major parties vying for votes at this year’s general election to publish their manifesto. Reacting, Mike Childs, head of policy at Friends of the Earth, said:
“The Liberal Democrats have traditionally been the greenest of the three main political parties and their manifesto will be a tough act for the Labour Party and Conservatives to follow. They have rightly put fairness at the heart of their green plans by promising free insulation and heat pumps for low-income households, cheaper electricity and water bills through a new social tariff to help those struggling most, and an Environmental Rights Act to protect us all, but particularly the most marginalised communities, from pollution.
“What’s more, the party has pledged to meet the UK’s international obligation to cut carbon emissions by more than two-thirds by 2030, while also committing to a more ambitious national goal of delivering a zero carbon economy by 2045 – sooner than the existing 2050 target. And it has made ending the impunity with which polluting companies can operate one of its mainstays, by promising to make businesses responsible for environmental harms such as the sewage scandal, and devastating impacts caused overseas, to clean up their act.
“At first glance, the party’s manifesto appears to be an impressive document recognising the interconnection of the climate and nature crises with existing societal inequalities, and attempts to match both with solutions that speak to the level of ambition required. We look forward to studying its manifesto – and those of all the main parties – in more depth, which we’ll be scoring against our key demands for protecting climate and nature.”
Liberal Democrat Party Manifesto – click here.
FoE thoughts on Conservative Party manifesto: 11th June
Party seems to have given-up on long-held conservative value of protecting the environment for future generations
Responding to the publication of the Conservative Party Manifesto, Mike Childs, head of policy at Friends of the Earth, said:
“The Conservative are attempting the impossible by pledging to maintain global leadership on climate change while walking backwards on the measures needed to reduce carbon emissions.
“This manifesto falls so far short of what’s needed it reads like the party has given-up on the long-held conservative value of protecting the environment for future generations.”
How the Conservative manifesto misfires on the environment:
• It promises a spending splurge on roads, annual oil and gas licensing and new gas-fired powered stations.
• It wants to accelerate the roll out of renewable energy – while continuing a de-facto block on onshore wind in England, as well as being negative towards solar farm developments.
• It promises £1 billion for new bus routes – but against a backdrop of bus services falling by half under the party’s tenure.
• It says it will fund energy efficiency for one million homes – yet there are almost 10 million low-income homes badly in need of insulation.
• It rails against the cost of installing heat pumps – but unlike the Liberal Democrats fails to follow the advice of its own National Infrastructure Commission which says low-income households should get 100% grants to cover the cost.
• It recommits to halting nature’s decline by 2030 – but provides no new money or measures that will deliver on the failing progress to date.
Conservative Party Manifesto – click here.
FoE thoughts on Green Party manifesto: 12th June
Responding to the publication of the Green Party’s election manifesto, Mike Childs, head of policy at Friends of the Earth, said:
“The Green Party is so far the only political party that has grasped the reality that unless we properly invest in reducing carbon emissions from our homes, industries, farming and transport, it will be impossible to avoid the huge financial and human costs of the climate crisis in the future. Money spent on green growth is how we lower energy bills for good, create long-term jobs in clean industries and boost the economy.
“By taxing the wealthiest in society and introducing carbon taxes on polluting companies, the Greens aim to benefit the poorest in society through fixing the UK’s damp, heat-leaking homes, improving our public transport system and enabling farmers to earn a decent living from green farming, as well as properly funding essential services such as the NHS.
“Honesty is essential to regaining trust in politics, so hats off to the Green Party for having the honesty to say that we can’t fix our broken energy system, ailing public services and protect our planet without spending much more money. And we must ensure the burden doesn’t fall on ordinary working families by fairly taxing the richest and making polluters pay.”
Green Party Manifesto – click here.
FoE thoughts on Labour Party manifesto: 13th June
The Labour Party has today published its general election manifesto, following the other main parties who have outlined their policy packages this week. Reacting, Mike Childs, head of policy at Friends of the Earth, said:
“From a government-in-waiting, we really needed to see firm plans on how the biggest long-term challenges of our lifetime will be confronted. Yet the Labour Party manifesto skates over so much of what’s needed to tackle the climate and nature emergencies.
“Unless countries the world over start pulling together and raising their ambition, we will see ever more extreme weather battering the planet, as well as more lives and homes lost, whole industries and economies plunged into financial ruin, and food security derailed. That’s not just the preserve of those living in distant lands – it’s the future that awaits us here in the UK too if we fail to act.
“It’s deeply concerning the UK’s national and international targets are veering so dangerously off track. We need proper plans and significantly more funding to reduce emissions from housing, transport, industry and agriculture.
“Economic prudence may be Labour’s guiding principle, but there’s nothing prudent about failing to invest in the measures that will safeguard our future, create clean, secure jobs in green industries, revive our ailing economy and prevent the enormous harms that await. It’s well beyond time for parties to stop treating climate and nature as a side issue.”
Labour Party Manifesto – click here
Climate Action Stokesley and Villages 