Fox was accused of "confusion and ignorance" by Labour
The UK’s International Trade Secretary has been accused of legitimising climate change denial by Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
In a statement the House of Commons, in response to the latest Extinction Rebellion protests, Liam Fox said:
“Whether or not individuals accept the current scientific consensus on the causes of climate change, it is sensible for everyone to use finite resources in a responsible way.”
This statement was issued as a press release by the Department of International Trade but was quickly condemned by opposition parties.
Labour’s International Trade spokesperson Barry Gardiner said:
“The science is clear. It is shameful that in the week when a sixteen-year-old school child has educated MPs with such clarity about the climate emergency we face, we have a cabinet minister showing confusion and ignorance on such a staggering scale.
“The government needs to act with the urgency that the science demands, not provide weasel excuses for climate deniers. It is just not acceptable behavior from a Cabinet minister.
“If the Tories cannot even accept that climate change is real, how can they bring forward the policies needed to avoid its worst impacts?”
The Liberal Democrats climate change spokesperson Wera Hobhouse echoed these concerns:
“The Conservative Government are finally showing their true colours, as apologists for climate change denial. While their ranks have many who reject the scientific evidence that humans are contributing to climate change, the Government had at least accepted what was happening, but now it seems they’ve changed their mind.
“In a week where protesters have filled the streets of London and activist Greta Thunberg has visited Parliament, it is outrageous that Liam Fox is now legitimising those who deny climate change.
“Climate change is happening, and as a country we have a responsibility to do everything we can to slash our emissions and reduce the damage we’re doing. Comments like this show the Tories clearly cannot be trusted to take it seriously.”
Environmental campaigners have argued that the finite nature of fossil fuels is not the problem as most of the world’s fossil fuels must be left untouched.
According to Greenpeace, 80% of the world’s known fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground to avoid runaway climate change.
The government has recently been criticised for not taking climate change seriously enough.
Yesteday, Theresa May declined to attend a meeting with climate activist Greta Thunberg and the leaders of the Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, SNP, Plaid Cymru and Green MP Caroline Lucas.
Joe Lo is a reporter for Left Foot Forward
4 Responses to “Liam Fox accused of legitimising climate change deniers”
Patrick Newman
Yes, the empty chair at the meeting with Greta Thunberg shows the Tories have not moved on from Cameron’s infamous words “Let’s get rid of all that Green crap”. It is doubtful they have moved on from the era when Nigel Lawson was regularly interviewed on the BBC explicitly denying climate change!
Patrick Newman
The government has actually gone backwards in their actions supposedly addressing the needs of combatting climate change. The fuel escalator has never been used by this or the last (coalition) government, they have all but destroyed the domestic solar panel market, they are prepared to overrule councils rejecting applications for fracking, they have set themselves targets on electric vehicles they will never have to meet, they have abandoned the Green Deal for insulating oider properties, they have made it almost impossible to instal new onshore wind turbine farms. This is the ‘dirtiest’ government since 1997!
Ken
Patrick is right to say that his is the dirtiest government since 1997 – or to put it another way, this is the dirtiest government since the last Tory government.
NMac
Fox is a prime example of Tory dishonesty – a dirty minister for a dirty Tory government.