SIR BEN BRADSHAW IS THE LABOUR MP FOR EXETER
It’s going to be a long General Election campaign and I fear it has already begun. The Government has given up all pretence at trying to take decisions that will actually ease the cost of living crisis or improve the NHS and other public services and is focusing instead on so-called “wedge” issues, where it thinks it can create political dividing lines with the Labour Party.
Climate change, migration and the rights of transgender or non-binary people are the Conservatives’ main targets so far. There has been a political consensus on the need to tackle man-made global warming for years.
The UK was a world leader under Governments of both parties, but that is fast unravelling under Mr Sunak. His own Environment Minister, Zac Goldsmith, resigned, saying he didn’t believe the PM was interested in the environment and the former Conservative Environment Secretary, John Gummer, who chairs the Government’s own Independent Climate Change Committee, says Britain is now “failing fundamentally” to deliver on our carbon reduction targets. In its latest report, the ICC says the Government only has policies in place to achieve 20% of the CO2 reductions the UK is already committed to.
Mr Sunak, who has a fondness for using private helicopters for short journeys, rarely mentions the climate and, when he does, it’s usually about the “cost” of taking action, when the cost of not doing so is infinitely greater.
Other governments understand this, which is why America and the EU are investing billions to decarbonise their economies and benefit from the lower energy bills, increased energy security and new technologies and jobs the net zero carbon future will deliver.
The Conservatives are gambling that people don’t care about global warming. The polls would suggest they are wrong. Most people want more support with the transition, but they also want to leave a habitable planet to their children and grandchildren.
On migration, the backlog in unresolved asylum applications is now 140,000. The Home Office rate for dealing with applications has fallen by a third and the return of failed asylum applicants by 70%. Any rational policy would focus on reducing this backlog but the Government prefers headline-grabbing gimmicks rather than policies that will work.
On trans and non-binary people, Mr Sunak appears intent on re-establishing his party’s reputation as the “nasty party” by targeting a tiny and extremely vulnerable minority, who have always existed but suffered prejudice and discrimination.
It’s a strange strategy for seeking a fifth Tory term and feels rather desperate. It also augurs for a very unpleasant year or so before the public are allowed to deliver their verdict.