“Dither and denial”: Miliband attacks Cameron for ignoring environmental issues

Ed Miliband has launched a scathing attack on the Government’s stance on the environment, accusing David Cameron of only supporting the cause when he stands to make electoral gain from it. Ahead of UN climate change discussions in Peru this week, Miliband has written an article for the Independent on Sunday criticising the Prime Minister for ignoring “pleas from the Foreign Office to raise climate change in his recent meetings with Chinese leaders.”

He also says this Government “abdicates its responsibilities”, and that “many of its MPs are flirting with climate change denial.”

In a nod towards the 10 year plan laid out during his conference speech, Miliband says a Labour Government would aim to make Britain a leader in green technology by 2025, creating a million new jobs in the country.

“In [UN climate talks in] Lima next week and in Paris next year, a Labour government would be pushing for global targets for reducing carbon emissions that rise every five years with regular reviews towards the long-term goal of what the science now tells us is necessary – zero net global emissions in the latter half of this century.”

Miliband was Labour’s Environment Secretary at the Copenhagen climate talks in 2009, where his success in negotiations impressed many. Today, he sets out a four-point plan to show how he would achieve his aims.

Meanwhile, he accuses Cameron of only supporting environmental issues when they are “fashionable”, and his record in Government suggests he no longer thinks they are.

“When I was in the last Labour Cabinet, I was grateful to both the Tories and the Lib Dems for backing our Climate Change Act. Those were the days when Mr Cameron was busy changing the Conservative Party’s logo to a tree, travelling thousands of miles to pose for photo opportunities with a husky on a glacier and promising to lead the ‘greenest government ever’.

Since becoming Prime Minister, however, he has tried to sell off the nation’s forests, deterred investment in renewable energy, and declared he wanted rid of ‘the green crap’ altogether.”

“The environment may not be as fashionable an issue now as it was when David Cameron attached a wind turbine to his house. But I believe tackling climate change is the most important thing I can do in politics for the long-term future of my kids and their generation.”