Tory Greenwash
Leicester Greens have ridiculed the Tory Party's environmental credentials, ahead of planned "green action days" by the party of “privatise and pollute”.
Leicester Green Party spokesperson Matt Follett said: "Cameron and his cronies, existing in a deliberate policy vacuum, are trying desperately to portray an image of environmental awareness and concern. In reality, the decisions the Tories make when in power, at any level, show a very different truth.
"Tories up and down the country are backing new road building, supporting the biggest programme of airport expansion seen for a generation, and opposing congestion charging. How can they reconcile policies like this with a supposed new-found enthusiasm for the environment?
"Here in Leicester, for example, the Lib-Dem / Tory council returned a £5 million grant for a district heating scheme which would have reduced CO2 emissions.”
He concluded: "The only way to get green policies, and green action, is to vote Green."
The Green Party’s national report on Tory 'eco-cons' was released on Sunday March 11.
The national Top Ten Tory anti-green policies are:
1 Support for nuclear power
2 Support for new roads
3 Support for aviation growth
4 Opposition to EU green schemes (21 of the UK 's 23 Tory MEPs present voted to exempt roads and industrial installations, including airports, from proposed air quality rules. Tories also voted to water down rules that would limit GM contamination of seeds)
5 Axing environmental regulations as 'red tape'
6 Opposition to congestion charging
7 Support for incineration of waste
8 Support for tax cuts for super-consumers (by cutting tax on share sales,
and removing much of inheritance tax, Tories would be increasing the power of the
very rich to super-consume, fuelling unsustainable growth in luxury, carbon-intensive
activities).
9 Support for low taxes for the most polluting multinational businesses (Tory policies of reducing business taxation would most benefit larger companies, who import and export more, require more transportation and emit more carbon)
10 Support for Trident.