Bute House Agreement is best defence against Westminster climate chaos
The Tories and Labour’s culture war against climate and nature proves how crucial Scottish Greens being in government is to preventing Westminster’s planet wrecking policies from damaging Scotland.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s helipad hopping support for the oil and gas industry in issuing more drilling licences is the clearest sign of how he has made climate confetti out of previous agreements on reaching net zero targets.
Meanwhile, Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has rolled back on his key climate funding pledge, and is backtracking on support for environmental pledges like the roll out of Ultra Low Emission Zones, and on the Rosebank oil field where he has said he would not cancel any new licences.
Sewage, coal, air pollution, deposit return schemes, dirty hydrogen, planning, green jobs and clean heating are other areas both parties are facing scrutiny over policy failures, with a coalition of environmental groups lining up against them over their abandonment of nature.
Scottish Greens climate spokesperson Mark Ruskell MSP said:
“Both the Tories and Labour seem intent on running headlong into a climate catastrophe by scrapping protections and climate action while doubling down on supporting fossil fuels and big business.
“Don’t they have televisions, don’t they read news sites, can’t they see Canada is ablaze as Hawaii is smouldering while deaths rise? Haven’t they grasped the scenes of devastation in Europe, Africa, China and beyond?
“We have. Our children have. Young people preparing for what will be their first time voting in a General Election know all about it. They are the ones showing real climate leadership while being ignored by Westminster.
“They know it will happen here too. We had a flavour of the climate chaos to come this Summer in the Highlands. But the Tories have done all they can to distract people from the truth of their planet wrecking duplicity, while Labour has cowardly flip flopped on environmental pledges.
“It is thanks to the Bute House Agreement, particularly because of having the Scottish Greens in government, that we have stood firm against this assault on not just our environment, but on common sense.
"It is our cooperation deal that has brought record investment in nature restoration, into a Just Transition, into walking wheeling and cycling infrastructure, into shifting people from their cars and onto a nationalised rail service, into free bus travel for the young and a new national park.
“We are the ones who have stood up to Westminster's climate chaos. We have banned single use plastics and coal extraction, we have taken action to curb waste incineration and are calling for a tax on private jets.
"The Scottish Greens are standing up for climate and the Bute House Agreement is delivering, which is why they are running scared of it.”