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Only way to make blue go green is add yellow… writes Tim Farron

by Steve Beasant on 25 January, 2015

The following article was written by the Liberal Democrat MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale Tim Farron and published on Thursday (22nd January) on Politics Home Website.

Last week, the Tories showed their true with colours yet again. They were distinctly blue, with not a hint of green. MEPs voted on EU proposals to tackle air pollution, which the new European Commission is threatening to withdraw or water down in its drive to cut red tape. This is being rightly opposed by many MEPs, including Liberal Democrat MEP Catherine Bearder, who is leading the charge to keep these proposals on the table. We all want to see moves to make EU regulation smarter and more efficient, but that shouldn’t come at the expense of the air we breathe. Air pollution now causes an estimated 29,000 premature deaths in the UK each year – almost as many as smoking. And with 40% of the most deadly pollutants coming from elsewhere in the EU, it’s clear that we need urgent action on this both across Europe and within our borders.

Yet Conservative MEPs refused to stand up for these vital measures to improve air quality, voting against key amendments to prevent them being delayed and calling for them to be watered down to “reduce administrative burdens.” It seems that for the Tories, laws that protect the environment and improve people’s quality of life are just more red tape to be slashed. They fail to see that moving towards a cleaner, greener economy isn’t just the right thing to do for the planet. It’s the best to way to secure future growth and jobs.

Even if change is made at the EU level, we still need to focus on correcting conditions in the United Kingdom. Recently, the World Health Organisation released statistics on average levels of particular matter (PMs), a measurement of pollution, in various cities across the country. Frighteningly, the report found that at least 9 British towns and cities exceeded safe levels for PMs, including Birmingham, Leeds, London, and Sheffield. In London, Mayor Boris Johnson has failed to deliver on his promises to focus on green policies, resulting in London experiencing the highest levels of NO2, a toxic gas, of any European capital city. The time for radical change in environmental policy is now, and it is imperative that we work on it for the betterment of both the UK and the EU.

The Liberal Democrats are fighting to steer the UK and the EU on the right environmental path. In coalition, Liberal Democrats have fought to make sure that the environment has stayed at the top of the agenda. We’ve doubled the amount of energy generated from offshore wind and stopped the Tories from slashing support for renewable energy. We are also working to curb vehicle pollution and encouraging initiatives such as the creation of the world’s first Green Investment Bank, which would help treble renewable electricity generation in the future. And while senior Conservative politicians voice their doubts about man-made climate change, Energy Secretary Ed Davey has been busy paving the way for a global deal to cut carbon emissions. Without the Lib Dems, there would be nothing to stop the Tories from lurching to the right on the environment. The truth is, the only way to make blue go green is by adding yellow.

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