Responding to the news that Labour is planning to build HS2 from London to Crewe (LBC), Green Party Transport Spokesperson, Matt Edwards, said,

“A high-speed rail line connecting only the suburbs of London to Birmingham was the worst of all worlds. The Green Party welcomes the investment in our railways, but this is just one part of the puzzle, and the Labour government needs to ramp up investment in better rail connections across the North of England and connect the cities across the North of England to high-speed rail.”

“Transport is still one of the biggest sources of emissions in the UK and high-speed rail is vital if we want to achieve Net Zero because it will free up overcrowded rail lines like the West Coast Mainline for more local services. But it needs to be done in the right way to protect the local environment.”

Responding to the news that putting household rubbish in giant incinerators to make electricity is now the dirtiest way the UK generates power (BBC), Green Party Peer Baroness Jenny Jones said, 

“I highlighted the issue of incineration stopping councils from recycling back in 2010 when I was on the London Assembly. This became a national issue about 10 years ago when local authorities across the country started to treat waste as a fuel, rather than a valuable source that could be reused or recycled.

“Unless we have a complete moratorium on new incinerators and start to close down existing ones, we will not meet either of the government’s big targets. You can’t burn oil in the form of plastic and meet the target of Net Zero emissions in 2050; nor can you sign up local authorities to 20 year contracts to burn waste and expect them to recycle 65% of waste by 2030. The last government was finally waking up to the direct contradiction between environment and incineration, I hope this government will say no more incineration and put this big mistake into reverse.”

Green Party MP for North Herefordshire, Ellie Chowns said: “Starmer’s pledge to investors that he will “cut red tape” is a tired cliché that, in practice, too often means harming environmental standards and workers’ rights. We’ve had fourteen years of successive Conservative governments promising to “cut red tape,” and all we have to show for it is a flatlining economy and falling living standards. If Starmer is serious about attracting investment to the UK, he will need a bolder approach that delivers on the “change” he promised in his election campaign. He could start by re-evaluating our relationship with our biggest trading partner, the European Union.”

Green Party Co-Leader, Carla Denyer said, “The reports over the weekend that no food has entered Northern Gaza since the 1st of October, of Israel’s attack on al-Aqsa Hospital, of chemical weapons being used to attack UNIFIL peacekeepers, of mass civilian casualties in Gaza’s Jabalia Refugee Camp and of increased rocket fire into Israel from Hezbollah are extremely disturbing. The huge numbers of civilian deaths and the prospect of widespread starvation in Northern Gaza are intolerable.

The Labour government must recognise that violence in the Middle East is escalating rapidly and that their current approach is failing. The Government needs to consider far more direct measures to incentivise a ceasefire including an end to arms sales, the introduction of divestments, boycotts and sanctions, prosecutions for all those who have committed war crimes and a plan for a viable Palestinian state.”