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.”

Co-leader of the Green Party and MP for Bristol Central, Carla Denyer, will welcome the Renters’ Rights Bill in parliament later today, but will say it must go further in defending the rights of 11 million renters in the UK. Denyer said:  

“This is a once in a generation opportunity to recognise the rights of the 11 million people living in private rented housing to have a safe, decent and secure home. A chance to stop tenants being constantly uprooted and fleeced to pay for a roof over their heads.  

“In particular, we need a national system for rent controls with local flexibility aimed at bringing rents down relative to incomes.  

“We also need to tackle rented properties that are plagued with cold, damp or mould. We need to see a clear commitment to energy efficiency in the Bill to end the scandal of around 5 million renters living in such appalling conditions. 

“Such a Bill is long overdue. Greens hope it can be made even better and become truly transformative. Let’s make sure we use this opportunity to shift how we think about renting, moving away from viewing housing as assets, to prioritising and valuing the right to a stable home – in policy and practice.” 

Notes 

Carla Denyer MP and Sian Berry MP are expected to speak in the debate on the Bill in the Commons.