A leading Labour donor yesterday called for climate denial to be a criminal offence because it causes ‘incredible harm’.
Green energy tycoon Dale Vince tweeted in support of Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, who branded the Conservatives and Reform ‘unpatriotic’ for not backing Net Zero goals.
It came as Mr Miliband gave an urgent statement in Parliament on the state of the climate crisis, telling The Guardian he wanted it to be an ‘annual exercise in radical truth-telling’.
Mr Vince, who donated £5million to Labour in the run-up to the general election, posted: ‘Good move from Ed, it’s time to tell it like it is. I’d make climate denial a criminal offence – given the incredible harm it will cause, even by slowing down progress to Net Zero.’
Speaking to MPs yesterday, Mr Miliband referenced a Met Office report warning that the UK is getting hotter and wetter with more ‘extreme events’.
‘The central England temperature series shows recent warmth has far exceeded any temperatures observed in at least 300 years,’ he said.
He also warned that Britain was one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, and said heatwaves had led to 10,000 excess deaths in England during the past four years.
Facing down his critics, he added: ‘To those who say Britain cannot make a difference. I say you are wrong. Stop talking our country down. British leadership matters.’
But Tory energy spokesman Andrew Bowie said it was ‘ridiculous’ to accuse opponents of Net Zero of being unpatriotic.
‘We need to bring back a sense of rationality, of proportion to this debate,’ he said, adding that ‘language like this is alienating more and more people’.
And Mr Bowie said it was ‘shameful’ of Mr Miliband to use the Met Office report as an excuse to attack his opponents, while also warning that Labour’s climate policies in the race to Net Zero threaten to ‘impoverish’ the British people.
‘It is rather shameful that the Secretary should be using this [Met Office] report as cover, whilst ratcheting up the language, whilst increasing the shrill criticism of all those who question the department and its policies, all to distract from the fact that the plans mean that Britain will be poorer and that no one, no one looking at how we are decarbonised, could ever claim that this is a model to follow,’ he told MPs.
‘We are proud to have been a world leader, but it isn’t a race if nobody else is running.
‘If we are leading the way, we need to make sure there’s a path others will follow. We must decarbonise in a way that creates energy security and prosperity rather than forcing industry abroad and impoverishing the British people.’
Mr Miliband also suggested that the Government-owned GB Energy could fund solar panels on religious buildings, such as churches and mosques.
