Keir Starmer is failing to make the case for radical action to tackle the climate crisis because he is âterrifiedâ that âvested interestsâ will prevent him winning the next election, a Labour MP has said.
Speaking on The London Economicâs podcast, Unbreak the Planet, Clive Lewis claimed politicians âarenât prepared to say there is an existential threat hurtling towards usâ because they fear âtheyâll never be electedâ.
Lewis, who served in Jeremy Corbynâs shadow cabinet and earlier this year introduced a Green New Deal bill in Parliament with the Greensâ Caroline Lucas, said: âIf we look at the kind of world we want to live in, and how we are to get there, then weâre going to have to make changes to the way we organise our economy and our society and our democracy.”
‘Existential threat’
He added: âIf politicians arenât prepared to say that, and thereâs an existential threat hurtling towards us, then why are we even here?
âYou have to articulate and you have to make the argument. Thatâs the problem in my own party at the moment: theyâre terrified that vested interests will push back, and theyâll never get elected.
âWell at some point, with an existential threat coming, youâve got to tell the truth as you see it. Thatâs what the Green New Deal is: Caroline and I have put down the truth as we see it. This is one of the very few roadmaps out that we have.â
The Green New Deal bill proposed by Lewis and Lucas – along with a cross-party group of co-sponsors – would set legally binding targets to cut emissions and reverse environmental damage, as well as blocking investment in new fossil fuel extraction.
If a Green New Deal ends up being âsimply about electric vehicles, heat pumps and techno fixesâ then it is destined to fail, Lewis told Unbreak.
âIf thatâs what a Green New Deal is about, and it doesnât fundamentally tackle the inequality of power, wealth and democracy in our society and economy, it will fail,â he said.
âThis is a problem for many in politics, for many on the right and on the centre of my party. Unless you are prepared to tackle and take on those vested interests, then youâre going to get nowhere – youâre simply going to be tinkering around the edges.â
Cop failure
Lewis added that Cop26, the recently-concluded UN climate summit in Glasgow, was âdireâ and a âfailureâ when looked at âthrough a conventional lensâ.
But, he added, âin terms of the climate movement, of understanding where the Global South are in this fight, the need for solidarity between different groups – not just those fighting climate issues – I think it was potentially a turning point.
âI canât predict what history will say. What I do believe is that Cop26 was another wake-up call, a turning point for the climate movement.
âBecause now we understand that our current political class, the current economic system, the current power system that dominates globally, isnât going to save us.â
Watch the full episode of Unbreak the Planet, with Lewis and former Extinction Rebellion spokesperson Rupert Read, below.
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