Tories receive £1.5m over three months in donations from polluters and climate deniers

The Conservatives have received nearly £1.5m in donations from polluting industries and funders of climate change denial in the past three months.

Analysis by DeSmog UK of information published by the Electoral Commission shows that the party has received substantial donations from JCB and London City Airport, among others.

British multinational JCB, which manufactures heavy machinery, has made several donations to the Tories including two of £700,000 each, while London City Airport donated £12,500.

Donations amounting to £20,000 were recorded from a company called Offshore Group Newcastle, which produces steel for North Sea oil rigs.

Michael Hintze, a funder of climate sceptic think tank GWPF, gave cash to Priti Patel, Andrea Leadsom, Robert Halfon, Mark Garnier and Penny Mordaunt.

The research shows that the total sum of donations to the Conservatives from high-carbon industries amounts to £1,448,478 in the past three months.

Commenting on the findings, shadow minister Alan Whitehead said: “News that the Conservative Party is funded by fossil fuel interests raises worrying questions about Tory sincerity on net zero and the green economy.

“Nothing has changed since parliament accepted Labour’s motion to declare a climate emergency, and millions of pounds of tax relief are being funnelled by this government towards fossil fuel interests.

“Businesses rarely hand over money for no reason, the question for the Conservative Party is, what have these companies bought?”

Labour put forward a motion in parliament last year to declare a climate emergency, making the UK the first country in the world to have done so.

At the last election, the Conservatives set a target to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and the Prime Minister has since reaffirmed that commitment.

However, Jeremy Corbyn recently highlighted in Prime Minister’s Questions that the government is badly failing and is on track to reach this net-zero target by 2099.