Cat Smith: Jeremy Corbyn’s environmental vision is what my constituency needs

Today Jeremy Corbyn launched his 10 leadership election pledges, with action to secure our environment right at the centre of them. 2016 is set to be the hottest year on record. Under Jeremy’s leadership, Britain would take its fair share of climate action to help keep global temperatures to safe levels following the Paris Agreement. He would use a new National Investment Bank to turbo-charge a transition to a modern, efficient, low-carbon economy creating cutting-edge green industries and high skilled jobs in every part of the country. He would curb energy bill rises for households – ‘energy for the 60 million, not the big 6 energy companies’. And he would defend and extend the environmental protections gained from the EU as Britain negotiates a Brexit, from cleaning up our beaches to protecting our national parks and bees.

In almost every speech I can remember, during this election campaign and the last, he has put climate and the environment firmly on the agenda. As Labour leader he has held the Tories to account on the most important environmental battles facing us, from forcing fracking for more fossil fuels onto our communities to the wilful demolition of large parts of our solar industry  costing 12,000 skilled jobs. He has used Prime Minister’s Question Time to drive the issues home: he´s traveled the country visiting flood victims and pressing for proper flood defense investment: he went to Paris for the climate talks to meet with people on the frontline of climate change impacts and hear about the most advanced action being taken across the world to cut climate wrecking emissions.

And why does this matter? Because it tells you about the kind of leader Jeremy is and his priorities and vision for the country.

I’m glad to see that Owen Smith has now given a speech on the environment. I’m just sorry that it seems to have come after the controversy of forgetting to mention it in any of his 20 leadership pledges. Neither, as I write this, is there a single word about the climate or environment on his campaign website.

In the constituency I represent, Lancaster and Fleetwood, the environment and green industry matters. This is not an issue that can be treated as an afterthought. It is a central question of social justice. It matters if our towns and villages are increasingly hit by flash flooding as global temperatures rise. It matters if our countryside is punctured by giant fracking rigs, risking our drinking water aquifers with a cocktail of chemicals and undermining tourism in the region. It matters if people have trained up to be solar panel engineers and the government suddenly slashes the industry support. It matters if kids are walking to school surrounded by smog from traffic and coal fired power stations, developing asthma and cancer. 40,000 people die every year in Britain because of air pollution. Costs to our health service and businesses are more than £20 billion every year.

Imagine if instead we did what Jeremy has been arguing for, not just in the last few days, but for years – ending the austerity cuts that are sucking our economy dry and instead pumping investment into strategic infrastructure that can raise our country’s productivity, efficiency and environmental sustainability. Imagine if, instead of sitting in traffic jams, we could get to work on modern, quiet, clean electric buses charged up at the roadside or fast, frequent trains. Imagine if every school, hospital and public building generated its own electricity and hot water with solar panels on their roof.

Imagine if our draughty housing stock was properly insulated to end the scandal of fuel poverty and avoid the need for more polluting power stations; and every new home was built with the latest technology to not need huge heating bills for years to come. Imagine if we seriously harnessed the wind and wave power around our shores and started exporting electricity with inter-connectors to a Europe-wide smart-grid. Imagine if the kids in my constituency grew up with the confidence that no community would be left behind and that they too could be the engineers and technology innovators, fitters and designers that would be part of this national transformation.

For people who are still struggling to understand how Jeremy has managed to inspire hundreds of thousands of people to join and get active in our party, I think an important part of the answer is that he has a big bold vision for a modern, environmentally sustainable country and he gives people hope.