Labour conference speeches on energy, environment and transport

One of the founding news principles of Blue & Green is the same as the Daily Courant, the UK’s first newspaper. It’s publisher Elizabeth Mallet advertised that she would not add any comments of her own, supposing her readers to have “sense enough to make reflections for themselves.” We’ll do the same for party conference speeches.

Speech by Lisa Nandy MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change, to conference, She said: “Affordable, reliable energy matters to working people here and across the world. But the pollution caused by our existing energy system poses one of the greatest risks to our health, our wellbeing and our collective future. The transition to clean energy is one of the biggest challenges this country has ever faced.”

Speech by Kerry McCarthy, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to conference. She said: “Environmental protection, air pollution, the circular economy, food and farming – our continued membership of the European Union is vital on all these issues and more. We achieve so much more by co-operation than by acting alone.”

Speech by Lilian Greenwood MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, to conference. She said: “Labour’s values say that transport is more than a mechanism for economic growth. Under the last Labour Government, transport policy was also seen as a way of alleviating social exclusion. And to thousands of isolated individuals and communities, a bus service, a reopened rail line, or an upgraded road, can represent nothing less than a form of quiet liberation.”

Responding to the Labour Party shadow cabinet speeches from the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs, Friends of the Earth’s senior political campaigner Liz Hutchins said: “Lisa Nandy is spot on – we must democratise and clean up our energy system. For too long the Big Six energy firms have had the public over a barrel, while Government proposals to slash support for solar threatens 20,000 jobs.

“We need to help people and communities to generate their own clean power if we want to build an energy system that can deal with the challenges of the 21st century, especially climate change.

“Kerry McCarthy is right to oppose Government plans to frack through water aquifers, and moves to weaken restrictions on bee-harming pesticides. She also made it clear that food production must be environmentally, as well as economically sustainable – a major blind spot for this Government.”