09 March 2024 , 19:53
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Chris Packham has urged MPs not to allow the "mess" they’ve made of climate change to become their grandchildren's future, in a letter sent to all members of Parliament.
The letter, seen by this newspaper, was accompanied by copies of green campaigner Dale Vince's book - which he urged them to read.
"The coming election will be the most important of our lifetimes," he wrote. "Because irrespective of any party politics we'll be halfway through the last decade the UN say that we have to act to avoid the worst of climate breakdown - and in reality, we are already lagging, we've been wasting time, and actually going backwards. Not good."
The latest edition of Mr Vince's book includes a new chapter urging readers to "stop the Tories" in order to stop the climate crisis. Mr Vince argued PM Rishi Sunak's decision to axe key climate pledges had handed Labour an advantage in this year's election.
He wrote: "Sunak has helped us, he's put clear green water between the Tories and Labour, and in doing so made a tactical error. It really was a desperate attempt to gain a toehold in the next election, but I see it being arguably his undoing. It would be far harder to argue which party is better for our economy if Sunak had not come out and been so clearly anti-green."
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Speaking after the Budget, Mr Vince said Jeremy Hunt ’s financial statement lacked “any support for the green economy which is the biggest economic opportunity since the last industrial revolution.”
He said: “The UK will fall further behind in the global race to build the economy of the future every time we have a budget like this. And we will remain reliant on oil and gas from hostile foreign powers like Putin’s Russia. Instead, we could declare Energy Independence, by harnessing our own wind and sun, create a vast number of new jobs and nail our energy bills to the floor and keep them there.”