A Greener than Green Conservative Party
The Tory Party have always been portrayed as the party that doesn't care about the environment. However, if you look back over the past 10 years they've acheived quite a lot, argues Calum Nimmo.
The media will happily portray the Conservative Party as an organisation full of people who bleed oil. People who, if a wound developed, would spurt the Black Gold out like an undiscovered oil pool sitting beneath the earth.
The Green Party named themselves 'The Green Party' to signify to voters that only they can deliver a greener United Kingdom. Despite this, voters appear unconvinced. This is evident when you look at their poor election record. And now the Scottish Greens have cuddled up to the SNP and their separatist agenda the Greens can't even stick to a greener UK motto!
Whilst some Conservative MPs and even voters might fit the stereotype, as a member of the Conservative party for 3 years now I can say very proudly: the media are wrong. It was, of course, Margret Thatcher who was one of the first significant figures to address the issue of climate change to the United Nations back in 1989 – long before anyone jumped on the climate breakdown bus for a ride. You might argue that this is a distant past, questioning what have we done as a party to stop climate change?
I am proud to say that all our leaders since Cameron have contributed in some way to lead Britain into a cleaner, brighter future. Their credentials are palpable: from Cameron going on a trip on dog slay to visit a melting glacier. Or what about Theresa May being the Prime Minister that saw the biggest reduction in coal usage in Britain (from 40% in 2012 to less than 2%) and now Johnson introducing the ground-breaking Environment Bill and promising a "green revolution" after Brexit.
But ambition and ideas alone mean nothing in terms of stopping a climate breakdown unless you act on them. So, what action has the Conservative Party done to combat climate change?
Well, for starters, they introduced the Environment Bill very recently, which seeks to: "put environmental ambition and accountability at the very heart of government."
In government, the party signed the Paris Agreement (a pivotal deal to limit global temperature rises), with the Conservatives complying with this ground-breaking agreement by reducing emissions by 25% since 2010.
Beyond emission cutting, the party is also responsible for ensuring that plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds are to be banned from April 2020. That is 4.7 billion plastic straws, 316 million plastic stirrers and 1.8 billion plastic-stemmed cotton buds that are no longer going to be thrown away every year come April 2020 – a resounding leap for Britain.
I am a proud Conservative, despite the various difficulties facing us – predominantly Europe. I am so pleased to be a part of a group (TFCA) dedicated to solving the climate crisis that the world faces. And a party as well.
The party must do more – Conservatives must continue to be international leaders when it comes to decarbonising the economy. That involves more auctions held for offshore and onshore wind, reducing VAT on EVs, expanding the infrastructure of electric charging points and divesting from fossil fuel companies. All of these and more are paramount to the success of the Conservative Party's climate action.
