Cameron hit by Tory backlash on environment
change consensus
of his own party who say they have doubts about the Conservatives’ stance on global
warming.
is “destined to collapse”. He criticises “the fixation of the green movement with setting ever tougher targets, in the face of failure to meet earlier promises”. He adds: “The ferocious determination
to impose hair-shirt policies on the public – taxes on holiday flights, or covering our beautiful countryside with wind turbines that look like props
from War of the Worlds – is bound to cause a reaction in any democratic country.”
it has “probably” been caused by human activity. But he is worried about the economic
cost of meeting emissions targets. He wants other voices to be heard in the debate
and a “middle way” found instead of the name-calling between “deniers and liars”
on each side.
to see emerge from those discussions is an effective, binding and fair deal to
cut carbon emissions that includes all major economies.”
that while he believed the climate was changing the effects were being overstated.
its effects tend to be exaggerated.”
is just not going to happen. The interests of the industrialising countries [such
as China and India] differ so greatly from the already-industrialised countries.”
John Maples, the deputy Tory chairman, told the Commons last year that he no longer accepted
the consensus on the issue. “I do not believe that the science is anything like
as settled as the proponents of the [Climate Change] Bill are making out,” he
said. He declined to comment yesterday.
and warned that a Tory government would harm the economy if it took unilateral
action to cut emissions.
on the impact on the economy, rather than this charge towards trying to be trendy
and to please the environmental lobby. Everyone has gone completely mad on this.
who says ‘hang on a minute’ is completely decried and treated like a Holocaust
denier,” he said.
why the climate is changing and the best ways of tackling it. It is a good idea
to reduce carbon emissions, but I would not want to see the whole economy destroyed
in the process. There is a balance to be struck.”
law. But five Tory MPs voted against the measure last year – Mr Lilley, Philip Davies, Andrew Tyrie, Ann Widdecombe and Christopher Chope. Only about 40 of the 193 Tory MPs actively supported, and many abstained.
Party managers were accused of imposing a low priority one-line whip to prevent
a backbench rebellion that would have highlighted Tory divisions.
cent cut in emissions by 2050 – the official Tory policy.
faith entirely and taken up the new religion of climate change alarmism instead”.
split, insisted the party’s sceptics held “a minority view”, and saw no evidence
that their numbers were growing. “On policy, there is an increasingly strong consensus
on what needs to be done,” he said.
personal commitment to green issues, saying that would drive the party’s policy.
They said all parties had climate change sceptics in their ranks.
of the sceptics in the face of what he described as “overwhelming” evidence
(see link to article ).