Climate change takes centre stage of election campaigning today as party leaders attempt to appeal to voters concerned about the environment.
But while the Labour, SNP, Lib Dem and Green party leaders are gearing up for a head-to-head TV debate on the issue – the prime minister has so far ignored an invite to join them. Both
Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage look set to snub the hour-long Emergency On Planet Earth debate on Channel 4 News. It’s not yet known if the broadcaster will empty chair the pair, but when asked whether a Conservative minister – such as Michael Gove – could attend the debate instead, a spokeswoman for Channel 4 News said: ‘Michael Gove is not the party leader.’ Invitations to him and the Brexit Party leader remained open, the programme said.
Despite Brexit and the NHS so far dominating election campaigns, an influx of voters concerned about the environmental crisis off the back of a summer of Extinction Rebellion protests have lead to the 12 December poll being dubbed by some as ‘the climate election’. Labour leader
Jeremy Corbyn, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, Scottish First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, Plaid Cymru’s leader Adam Price and Green co-leader Sian Berry have agreed to take part.
Despite global concern for the future of the planet demonstrated in mass protests around the world, the issue garnered only a brief mention in a head-to-head TV debate between Mr Johnson and Mr Corbyn earlier in the campaign. A poll taken shortly before the election was called revealed the majority of people said climate change would influence how they voted. Almost two-thirds agreed politicians were not talking about the issue enough in the run-up to the next national vote, the survey for environmental lawyers ClientEarth found. The first leaders debate on climate change takes place in the wake of the latest warnings from UN experts of rising levels of climate-warming greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the need for swift and dramatic cuts in emissions to avoid the most dangerous impacts of global warming. Leaders are likely to face questions over the level of ambition and feasibility in their plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the
UK to zero overall, and the date they have pledged to achieve it by. Presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy said leaders would be grilled on how people’s lives will have to change – whether it would involve giving up red meat, going on holiday or ending fast fashion. Plans to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles, cut the carbon from heating homes, plant trees and protect wildlife are also among the subjects they could be quizzed on.
Mr Guru-Murthy said: ‘This debate has been called for by hundreds of thousands of people from all sorts of different walks of life.’ He urged Mr Johnson, who has said he does not want to debate Ms Sturgeon because she cannot become prime minister, to change his mind, promising him he would get a fair hearing. Rebecca Newsom, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, which backed a public petition to secure the debate, said: ‘The climate and nature emergency is a top concern for UK voters and an issue our politicians will have to put at the heart of their economic strategy for the foreseeable future. ‘They must seize this opportunity for a greener and fairer future. ‘The public will be looking to see who among the party leaders understands the gravity of the situation and has the policies and conviction to tackle it.’