The Tories have failed on climate change, we need a Labour government to fix their mistakes

David Cameron said he would lead the ‘greenest Government ever’, but now we know these were empty words. But if we want a more realistic idea of what the Tory position is on the environment we should look to George Osborne. The Chancellor doesn’t want the UK to be a world leader in tackling climate change, he claims renewable energy is expensive and he wants reduced support for on-shore solar and wind, all the while planning huge subsidies for fracking and handing out an extra £2.7bn in tax allowances for fossil fuel production.

When it comes to climate change, the Government’s list of shortcomings is long. They have ignored the Committee on Climate Change and refused to set a target for removing carbon from the power sector by 2030. The result is likely to add £100bn to household bills over the following 20 years – that’s £4,000 per household. Meanwhile, the Government claims to represent business, yet many leading businesses oppose their approach; arguing that ambitious and stable action to tackle climate change makes good business sense.

And for the Conservatives, EU environmental regulation, no matter how vital, is a burden to be removed. Yet one rarely mentioned aspect of our European membership is that most of our excellent environmental legislation tackling climate change, protecting nature, improving air, water and soil quality and transforming recycling was initiated by EU directives in which Labour politicians like former MEP Sir Ken Collins took a leading role.

Even where it has tried to make a difference, the government has failed. The ‘Green Deal’, intended to transform the energy efficiency of homes, is obviously unsuccessful – the take up so far amounting to only 1200 homes after 18 months.

The reality is the Government’s response to climate change is undermined for a narrow political reason: namely the prevailing climate change scepticism of Conservative party members and media backers. Putting party before country is always unattractive, but in this case it amounts to a complete dereliction of duty.

In contrast, Labour has committed the UK to meeting legally binding ‘five year’ carbon reduction targets, we would de-carbonise the power sector by 2030 and reduce emissions altogether by 32% in 2025 on 2012 levels.

Labour councils are already at the forefront of change. When I led Merton Council in 2003, we were the first to introduce a planning obligation for onsite renewables in new commercial developments. We dubbed this ‘the Merton Rule’ and it has since been adopted by 140 local authorities, helping to kick start our micro-renewables industry.

Merton Civic Centre already has a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and power and we have installed 700kWp of solar photovoltaic panels across council buildings, including primary schools, which produce both renewable energy and a revenue stream. Now our ambition is to develop a local energy service company that will generate local low carbon energy at affordable prices. Ultimately, this is likely to include extensive solar and district heating integrated in new developments.

Councils like Merton are demonstrating a level of innovation and ambition that we can expect from a future Labour Government.

In the run up to the general election it’s important to take note because this is the time to take action and we need a Government that is up to the task.

 Andrew Judge is the Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Wimbledon and Cabinet Member for Environmental Sustainability and Regeneration at Merton Council