Yahoo News Activists 'disappointed' as Labour and Tory election candidates miss Newcastle climate hustings
North East climate activists were left “disappointed” after candidates from the nation’s two main political parties missed an election hustings in Newcastle this week.
Neither the Labour or Conservative candidates in Newcastle North attended a debate on the environment and transport, which was arranged by the North East Climate Justice Coalition, walking and cycling group Space for Jesmond, and the North East Public Transport Users Group. Organisers said that it was an “absolute shame” that neither Labour’s Catherine McKinnell nor Tory Guy Renner-Thompson were at the hustings at Gosforth’s Trinity Church on Wednesday and suggested that the climate emergency had not been given enough focus during the General Election campaign.
The four candidates who did attend – Lib Dem Aidan King, independent King Teare, the Green Party’s Sarah Peters, and Martin Evison of the SDP – were challenged on issues such as air pollution, how to improve the standard of public transport, and how serious they believed the climate crisis is.
Read More: Labour's promise after working North East families suffer 44% child poverty rise since 2010
Host Tony Dowling, from the North East Climate Justice Coalition, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the climate emergency should “surely” be a more prominent issue than it has been in the election campaign so far and was “disappointed” not to have a full slate of candidates attending the hustings. Reform UK’s Deborah Lorraine was also not in attendance.
He added: “It is an absolute shame that for a hustings on climate and the environment the main two parties weren’t here… that the two real parties of government were not able to find someone to be here and say something.”
The former independent North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll was in the audience for the debate with his family and claimed afterwards that Labour and the Tories “don’t want to listen to others and can’t be bothered to turn up and talk”. Ms McKinnell said she had been unable to attend due to a prior commitment, but that the climate crisis is “the greatest long-term challenge we face”.
She added: “The Conservative Government’s ban on offshore wind, their sticking plaster policies on energy prices and independence and their unforgivable pollution of our waterways shows they have failed to grapple with the challenge. In Government, Labour would seize the opportunity of our high winds and shallow coastlines to deliver our Green Prosperity Plan. The plan will create green jobs in the North East, cut bills by £300 on average and deliver real energy security, ending the Conservatives’ chaotic approach which is holding us back.”
Mr Renner-Thompson said he had been unaware of the hustings but insisted his party had a “proud track record on the environment”, pointing to recent numbers showing wind power overtaking fossil fuels for provision of UK electricity. He told the LDRS: “I do think it is a big part of the election. I have attended a climate hustings in Alnwick for the Friends of the Earth. It has maybe not been as prominent an issue as in some other elections but it is part of our manifesto and we are proud of our record on delivering our net zero targets.”
At the hustings on Wednesday, Mr Evison risked the wrath of the environmentally-conscious audience of around 40 people by saying he did not believe that there is a climate “emergency” and did not want to see governments “spend trillions that could be spent doing good work in less well to do parts of the country and the world”. He also suggested that humans might be able to migrate to currently uninhabited areas like parts of Canada and Siberia as a result of rising temperatures.
Mr Evison had earlier spoken of SDP policies such as wanting to bring the railways back under public ownership, reopen closed train stations at a rate of 10 per year, and create a public transport system better integrated with buses.
Ms Peters replied to the SDP candidate’s comments by saying she could not express enough the urgency of the climate crisis, which she called an “existential threat” to humanity. Discussing the impact of the Newcastle Clean Air Zone (CAZ) tolls, the Green candidate said she did not believe the measures went far enough to combat air pollution and that it was “ridiculous” for governments to target individuals with such schemes and not imposing harder taxes on high-polluting industries like aviation.
She added: “Yes, we can get individuals to pay their costs but we need to be taking on the huge industries polluting our plant and making it increasingly unliveable.”
Dr King, who had also stood in the recent North East mayoral election along with Mr Driscoll, said the Lib Dems were “completely dedicated to the greening of our transport infrastructure”, highlighting the importance of installing more electric vehicle charging points and introducing single-ticket travel across all public transport. He added that the effects of climate change were already evident in the North East with warmer and wetter weather and that the next government should be doing “everything we can” to reduce fossil fuel burning.
King Teare, clad in a bright yellow robe and crown, agreed with the urgency of the climate crisis and said there was a major problem with “people not trusting science”.
He said he was “conflicted” about the CAZ, agreeing with the principle of tackling air pollution but preferring to see good behaviour rewarded. The independent candidate suggested incentivising motorists for environmentally-friendly behaviour like staying out of Newcastle city centre rather than imposing tolls as a deterrent.
