At yesterday evening’s Environmental Question Time, as well as Kate Parminter, William Cash and Rupert de Mauley, there was also Barry Gardiner, Eilidh Whiteford and Natalie Bennett.
Natalie Bennett, performed well:
- supports a nature and Well-being Bill
- would reform the CAP
- would repeal bad bits of NPPF
- is against fracking
- realises we need to tackle the system of agriculture fundamentally
- would not allow release of GM crops
- wants more marine protected areas
- says that only the Greens ‘understand that everything is dependent on the natural world’
Barry Gardiner was calm and knowledgeable as ever:
- ‘for peace we need justice and for justice we need sustainability’
- energy efficiency is a national infrastructure priority
- supports Lawton report on ‘more, bigger, better more joined up’
- thinks government got it wrong on bovine tb measures
- end the persecution of birds of prey
- publish lead ammunition review and act on it
Eilidh Whiteford was a breath of fresh, Scottish air. She answered the questions in a direct and succinct manner. She knew about oil but treated the environment as all about climate change and energy. And, it was good for we English to be told about Scotland by a Westminster MP. I do wonder what the impact will be of a larger number of SNP Westminster MPs. To what extent will they help me in my needs as members of my parliament when many of the day to day decisions about their own part of the UK are made in a different place. I’m a bit worried about the Scottish tail wagging this English (and part-Welsh) dog. Still, it may be the turn of the Scots to do to us what we have been doing to then for years? Scottish independence is not a settled question, it is a parked question with only one ultimate answer, I feel.
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The Green Party talk a good goverment, but I’m starting to feel a lot of their plans are well not very well planned. Talks cheap.
Not half as cheap as the talk coming from the Conservatives and Lib Dems who have had 5 years with the power to do something – it is a bit late to start promising now – they had their chance !
I’m not sure how much power the lib dens have had. Particuarly at DEFRA with Owen Patterson in charge, but if they care so much they should have been putting up more f a fight. As for the torys, I wouldn’t trust a single word that came out of there mouths in regards to the environment, I think it’s pretty clear david Cameron doesn’t think the biodiversity is at all important. The greens talk a lot about changing agriculture, but how? I get the impression not one of them has ever been on a farm. They want to stop factory farming but how exactly without just filling our supermarket shelves with foreign imported cheap from Europe? In which case we are just exporting environmental damage, and increasing food miles.
Mark…. the fear of the SNP is just the rumbling of the Westminster luvvies trying to protect their territory (compounded by the fact that Fleet St and the BBC London brigade do not understand Scottish politics at all).
Up here, I don’t get the impression than anyone has really shifted their views on independence (yet), if the referendum was run tomorrow, the result would probably be the same, maybe a wee bit closer. The reason for the SNP’s soaring success is that they have been delivering a government that is more left wing than the position Labour have adopted. Shock horror, its popular. The labour mantra “Vote SNP, get Torry” is a joke because the widely held view in Scotland is that if you Vote Labour, you get Torry (light).
The nationalist will push Labour to the left and that is going to be everyone outside the city of London.
The real significance of Labour’s likely removal from Scotland in May is that there will no longer be a representative of the British two party system left in Scotland, the Tories having been removed a decade ago. British politics will no longer be relevant and from there it is a short step to dissolving the Union.