West Berkshire Conservative Association - News - Westminster Diary 7th December

In the run up to the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen there are rumblings in some quarters about the whole question of man being a cause of climate change and therefore, by our actions, part of the solution. Like most people I am not a scientist or a climatologist and therefore not able to make much of all the data and evidence one way or the other. Like everyone I have to make a judgement on the basis of which side I trust most. That the climate is changing is beyond doubt. Our winters are warmer and our climate is more unpredictable than a few years ago. To deny this is just daft. Where there is legitimate cause for debate is about the cause. On the one side there is the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This is the accepted advisory body on these matters that includes most of the scientists and climatologists in the world who present regular research on climate change. On the other side is a group of sceptics who include people such as Lord Lawson and scientists such as the Australian Professor Ian Plimer.

Aside from whether you fully commit to the science surrounding climate policy, I believe there is a very simple way of looking at this. Surely we can all agree that it is sensible for us all to use less carbon. We should all be making efforts to make UK homes and businesses more energy efficient and reduce or national dependence on remotely and expensively sourced fossil fuels. Despite the recent commotion over the data published by Plimer and others, I will continue to accept that we cannot consider it sensible to pollute our atmosphere with carbon and not expect it to have a destabilising effect on our climate system. For that reason, I will carry on supporting measures to decarbonise our economy, particularly when doing so can be achieved in a way that delivers so many other benefits to Britain in the form of greater energy security, savings for households through having more efficient homes, cleaner cities and the creation of thousands of new ‘green collar’ jobs. I believe at the core of this is the concept of "stewardship". This is the protection and enhancement of what we have today for the benefit of future generations. As Margaret Thatcher said, "No generation has a freehold on this Earth. All we have is a life-tenancy—with a full repairing lease".