We need to talk about what the Tories are doing when it comes to the environment and how dangerous it is.
Generated transcript:
We need to talk about what the Tories are doing when it comes to the environment and how dangerous it is. Now of course the Tories have never really cared about the climate or the environment if it means spending money. I mean, that’s true, even though they have done some environmental things, and there are Tories who are greener than other Tories, and credit where it’s due, uh, people like Zach Goldsmith and even Boris Johnson have said some sensible things about climate and environment.
I’ll give them that. I mean, I don’t agree with them in many ways, but they have said at least one or two sensible things, like maybe we should care about the climate, and maybe we should do something about it, and maybe we should get people out of their cars a bit, and maybe we should invest in public transport, and bikes in London, all these things.
There are, and there have been, Tories in the past who have made some very small gestures towards , climate and responsibility of the environment. But now what’s happening? Now the Tories, having realised they’re going to lose the election because they’ve been appalling for the last 15 years or so, have decided that the environment is going to be something they weaponize, something they’re going to make, uh, aligned to left and right.
Like in America, where if you’re on the left, you care about the climate, and if you’re on the right, you hate the climate. This is what the Americans have managed to do, so everything becomes divisive, and anyone on either side who suggests anything to do with helping the environment gets labelled as some sort of lefty.
In this country, we’ve largely avoided that up until relatively recently. There was consensus that we needed to do something about net zero, and people argued about the speed we needed to do it, but it was generally accepted. For example, Boris Johnson, um, who I do not give much credit to, but he was fairly fundamental to expanding the, um, emissions zone in London, which now, um, Sadiq Khan’s getting all the grief about from Tory activists.
That was Boris Johnson that pushed it. So let’s not forget. that the Tories have not traditionally been entirely bad when it comes to climate. But now they’ve decided they’re going to make it a divisive issue. So we get this ridiculous sort of stuff coming out of our Prime Minister saying we’re going to stop these things that actually aren’t happening.
Because don’t get me wrong, these things here aren’t happening. at the moment. This tweet makes absolutely no sense at all. It’s entirely designed to anger people on the right, make them think that there is some sort of cabal of people who care about the climate who are somehow left wing and are making you do these things.
These things are not true, okay? We are stopping. No, they’re not stopping anything because these things… aren’t happening. Now, there is small taxes on flights, of course, but that’s, they’re not going to stop those. They’re talking about some sort of mythical thing, some mythical tax that’s going to discourage you from flying, not what’s actually happening now, because they’re not talking about getting rid of that.
So taxes on eating meat, you know, these are purely designed to be divisive. Now, of course, Let’s not forget the Tories are now talking about pushing back on our obligations to stop the sale of new diesel and petrol cars and gas boilers. And they’re pitching this as some sort of, oh, it’s unfair on the poor people who can’t afford new electric cars.
Right, let’s be very clear. The poor, or I should say people with less money, are not thinking about buying brand new cars, full stop. They’re not. I mean, it’s ridiculous. It’s a made up thing that’s meant to make us feel, oh, the Tories are on the side of the working man. The Tories have never, and will never, be on the side of the working man or people who aren’t rich.
They are not. The sale of new cars only affects… the wealthier people. You might want a cheaper new car, I don’t blame you, but if you are buying a new car, you’re not poor, okay? So let’s get away from this divisive politics. Let’s talk about the things that need to be talked about when it comes to the climate.
We do need to accelerate where we are, route to net zero. 2050 is too late, 2030s. Too late. Everything’s too late. Today is the time to do it and the, you know, the next best day is tomorrow. So we need to accelerate these things and we can do it in a way that doesn’t disadvantage the people with less money.
Let’s remember there’s more millionaires in this country than there’s ever been. They pay very little tax. Let’s get them to subsidize. Expensive insulation upgrades is on this list. What do you think that means? That means people living in rent and accommodation are going to have to pay more for energy.
They don’t care about people without much money who are cold. They’re caring there about landlords. You know, it’s the messaging is all, , we’re helping people with less money. No, you only care about the rich. You’ve only ever cared about the rich. Don’t try and weaponize the climate to try and get people who aren’t rich on your side.