‘We’re losing the argument on net zero,’ Green Party warns

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/exclusive/were-losing-the-argument-on-net-zero-green-party-deputy-warns-labour/

by ThatchersDirtyTaint

27 comments

  2. > Mr Polanski rejected the notion that people were voting Reform due to anti-net zero sentiments, and said they were voting for the party “because the Labour government were absolutely collapsing”

    The Green Party as politically astute as ever I see, the Labour Government is going to collapse any day now I am sure

  3. The green party are a bunch of self entitled champagne socialist living in their London bubble.

    People care about paying their rent/mortgage, having food on their table, heating their home. Then the next important thing is cultural, stop the mass immigration, improve policing, make the country safer.

    No one gives a shit about your windmills.

  4. And they’ll keep losing until someone starts being honest about how much it’s actually going to cost.

  5. Maybe it would help if one of the parties that is such a strong proponent of net zero didn’t attempt to block the pylons necessary to transport the low carbon electricity we need. 

  6. I think the public have actually been remarkably resilient in instinctively defending net zero despite massive government failure to deliver. I think what has happened is just that the public are tired of being told how great the green Industrial Revolution will be, getting charged massive amounts to deliver it, and then not seeing any benefit.

    People were promised lower bills, our bills are the highest in the world. We were promised industrial transformation and loads of jobs, instead a lot of our old industrial jobs are going and there are few examples of the types of green jobs being recreated in our old industrial heartland.

    What the environmentalist movement really need to take the next step are a few fewer policy people saying ‘wouldn’t this be nice’ and a lot more implementation people saying ‘this is how we can deliver this at cost and scale and when you, the public, will see the benefit.’

  7. When I can afford to buy my own house, that I can do so from a healthy supply that hasn’t been thwarted by large numbers of immigration to this country, I might start giving a fuck about the environment.

    When a government finds a suitable and affordable way to charge an EV for those that don’t have a driveway, I might start giving a fuck about the pollution my ICE-car gives off.

    Yes – I get it’s the green party’s entire manifesto to push for a cleaner planet. Unfortunately, timing is everything. The public aren’t seeing this as an issue right now. The public want access to housing on a relatively easy scale, like many generations before us had. Owning a house seems like a pipe dream for many now, simply because of supply and demand.

    They might get my vote if they put ultra-blinding solar panels on the white cliffs of dover. There’s a two-bird-one-stone scenario. Think outside the box Green Party.

  8. “People aren’t angry at net zero. They’re angry at historically high levels of immigration. Which we support. 

    And they’re angry they can’t afford a home because housebuilding is impossible under the planning system. Which we also support. 

    And they’re angry because the economy isn’t growing. Which we also want. We call it de growth. 

    We need to switch to renewable energy. But no using nuclear. Or ugly pylons in the countryside. So it costs far more money. 

    I’m sure we can get that money from all the millionaires who will definitely still be in the country after we put in massive wealth taxes to fund all our our brilliant ideas” 

  9. Net Zero doesn’t matter when India has entire rivers of burned plastic and trash

  10. To be honest, I struggle to remember ever hearing a politician try at make an argument for net zero.

    You hear multiple of them saying things like “we have to achieve net zero” or “we have to be world leaders on net zero”, but they never offer a reason why.

    Now I’m personally onboard with it, but then I’m wealthy enough that the high electricity prices now that are in large part paying for the transition don’t bother me that much.

    If I was struggling to pay my electricity bill, I’d probably have a different view.

  11. Yes of course they’re losing it. It’s a common argument that they say ‘the sooner we start the transition, the lower the costs’. That right there puts people off. Who wants to pay anything for an abstract, untested idea that already divides people?

  12. If you decoupled the gas price from electricity so that people actually saw a financial benefit to all this green investmen you might get somewhere. As it stands all people see is tax being spent with few tangible upsides.

  13. Its just not big on people’s priorities when immigration has been top of the list on things to sort in 20 years and people can’t afford to buy homes.

  14. Because it’s making the UK Poor remember the Uk is only 1% of global emissions, while at the same time, giant countries like America, China, and India don’t give a Fu*k

  15. Because going net zero is currently a luxury. You currently have to have the disposable income to buy solar panels or heat pumps and storage etc.

  16. I’ve yet to hear from anyone what the effect on anything would be if we achieved net zero tomorrow.

  17. There’s plenty of other issues tbat are far more pressing to the British people that need sorting first, as people want to see change in the now. Not in another lifetime, besides when you’ve got other countries not changing and they pollute many more times than we do, our change will make no differmve but seemingly cost lots of money.

    We’re told our bills will be cheaper, they’re not and our taxes are and would be through the roof to pay for these projects.

    I’m all for renewable energy etc, but they need to be honest, tell us the whys, tell us yes it’ll be good and be cheaper bill but actually do it.

    Plus admit that even if the whole.of UK was Net Zero, the world will still be buggered due to polluting powerhouses abroad.

    Recycling my household goods, turning my lights off when not using and sorting my cardboard from plastic won’t be sweet FA when India, China, Russia etc are polluting the world many times more

  18. Ok, so we all want clean energy, but it seems to be costing us, the taxpayer, more.

    The greens are a party who have a lot of nice ideas, but no way to pay for it. They talk about a wealth tax, but don’t then have a way to stop rich people leaving the UK.

    We can’t have all these amazing things without them being paid for, and that money comes from taxation. And the reality is, we’re already being taxed a fuck load.

    It makes more sense to reopen “some” of the mines, invest in nuclear energy, and stop carting our pollution abroad to China and India.

    If people are really wanting to move to net zero, or serious about stopping climate change, then they’d stop buying ANYTHING made in, or made of materials from abroad. They’d buy local.

  19. Expensive energy is literally crippling and killing our country.

    We can’t manufacture, we can’t invest. We can’t sell the new technology because it is still expensive and reliant on uncontrollable factors.

    On top of that, the materials required are not sustainable. Like it’s all well and good saying we have green energy, when we rely on imported materials from China to fucking deliver it.

    The global net zero argument doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. When you have countries like Brazil China India completely ignoring it.

    But of course, there isn’t the political will to bring energy prices down. Sheer fuckibg greed and incompetence from every single party.

    If you want a growing economy that cares about the environment, make energy cheap so people can afford to give a shit and so businesses can grow.

  20. I think people would be more on board with it, if they could see some immediate benefits. IMO one immediate thing the government could do is bring back the grant to put solar panels on roofs rather than building over fields. I live in East Anglia and this is tremendously unpopular. As are the pylons.
    Also, the media doesn’t help with this.

  21. I’d probably be more on board with the concept if it were the UK just pumping trillions into energy research. Instead I fear it’s basically just carbon austerity, where we will prioritise doing absolutely nothing whilst the rest of the world eats our lunch.

  23. What’s the point of making UK energy bills some of the most expensive in the world when it has negligible impact on global CO2?

  24. The right wing will certainly start believing in climate change when we get tens or hundreds of millions of refugees due to the effects of climate crisis in 3rd world countries 🙂

  25. The Green Party are a sham of charlatans.

    No where for 30 years have I ever seen them “do the numbers” on MASS IMMIGRATION and the:

    * Energy Demand for raising the population 15 million people

    * Resource Footprint for raising the population 15 million people

    * Destruction and Damage to Environment of UK for infrastructure of +15m people.

    Energy Policy is dependent on:

    1. Energy Production Options eg Solar, wind, Nuclear, Fossil Fuel (Coal, Oil, Gas)

    2. Energy Demand eg population total, usage demand cycles, efficiency and storage, seasonality

    Why NO ONE EVER talks about over consumption and population increase demand on the above issues. Especially the Green Party cannot even get the basics right on this massive foundational policy. They should renounce the name and colour “Green” because they are frauds.

  26. We’re just not benefiting from it while being told it’s causing issues.

  27. Completely switching the way we generate and consume power was always going to be hella expensive at a national and personal level. 

    Perhaps if they’d been a bit more honest instead of peddling the false narrative it was going to make everything cheaper or <insert other person> was going to pay for it all. 

    Then people would be more willing to stick with the policy. 

Comments are closed.