PM Truss – Greenpeace response

Truss must freeze bills and tax fossil fuel profits to stave off winter of cold and hunger – Greenpeace

Commenting on Liz Truss being nominated as Boris Johnson’s successor by Conservative party members, Greenpeace UK’s interim executive director Pat Venditti said:

“Liz Truss’s number-one priority must be to stop our broken, gas-dependent energy market pushing millions of UK people into a winter of cold and hunger. She should start by properly taxing the astronomic profits of fossil fuel companies and use that money to help freeze energy bills, increase support for the poorest households, and kick off a nationwide insulation programme to fix our energy-wasting homes as fast as possible.

“Our fossil fuel dependence is what’s propelling the twin hurricanes of the climate and energy bills crises. Liz Truss should go for the win-win policies that can tackle both at once while creating skilled jobs and breaking our dependence on gas imports. This means getting rid of the absurd barriers blocking cheap onshore wind and solar, turbocharging investment in offshore wind and rolling out a massive home insulation programme. These tried-and-tested solutions are faster, cheaper and generally more popular than nuclear, fracking and new fossil fuels from the North Sea.

“Instead of rolling back on fundamental nature protections, as Truss has hinted at, people want to know their government’s got the basics covered when it comes to safeguarding our natural world. Rules that stop sewage polluting our rivers and beaches, keep plastic out of our seas and destructive fishing out of our marine protected areas aren’t red tape, and the UK public can see the difference.

“This Conservative government was elected on a manifesto that committed it to reaching net-zero, ‘leading a new green industrial revolution’ and rolling out the ‘most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth’. There’s no mandate and no public support to roll back on these commitments. Bolder climate action and stronger nature protection is the only way forward for a cleaner, fairer and more affordable society for everyone.” [1]