Molly Scott Cato responds to 2018 budget
29 October 2018
Responding to today’s budget, Green MEP for the South West, Molly Scott Cato, said:
“Greens said that this must be an emergency budget for the climate and that it would fail if a single pound was spent on climate wrecking projects [1].
“Well, we witnessed billions splashed on climate wreckage, yet not a single mention of the word climate. This despite the fact scientists warned just a few weeks ago that we have a 12-year window to transition our economy and society away from fossil fuels [2].
“Rather than action to avert climate breakdown we saw the chancellor accelerate faster towards it, throwing £30bn at road building and freezing fuel duty for the ninth year running. This now amounts to a £9bn tax give-away, enough to reverse all Conservative benefit cuts of the past 8 years. Compare these eye-watering sums to the pittance given towards the environment – just £60 million to plant a few trees.
“As well as an assault on our climate this budget was a huge missed economic opportunity. This could have been a budget to turbo charge the idea of the Western Powerhouse, offering support and incentives to exploit the huge potential for renewable energy resources across the South West region. Off-shore and on-shore wind, solar, tidal and thermal power could provide for all the region’s energy needs and create thousands of jobs in the process [3].”