Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
Responding to the news that Labour are now publishing videos of police immigration raids, Green Party Co-Leader, Carla Denyer MP, said:
“This Labour government are plumbing new depths with their plan to broadcast footage of people being detained and deported. Those involved should be searching their consciences to ask if such breath-taking cruelty is really worth it all for the sake of aping the rhetoric of Reform. The bitter irony is that following Reform to the right on migration won’t win Labour any support – it will only lend legitimacy to Reform’s extreme views. It’s time this government showed a bit of backbone and told the truth – that migration is good for this country.”
The Green Party is aiming to field candidates in every seat in England and Wales at this year’s general election, its co-leader has said.
Carla Denyer told the BBC it was already “good way through” selecting candidates to fulfil the aim, which would mark a first for the party.
She said her party was open to talks with other parties about possible electoral pacts.
But she ruled out withdrawing candidates unless other parties do too.
The Greens are aiming to translate the record gains they made at last year’s English local elections into increased representation at Westminster.
Their only current MP, two-time former leader Caroline Lucas, is due to stand down at the next general election, which is almost certain to take place this year.
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“The Green Party is collaborative by nature. We’re always keen to work with people on areas where we agree,” Ms Denyer said when asked about possible election pacts.
But she added: “We’re not about to roll over and hand over any unilateral gifts to other parties.
“Our position is that our door is open, it’s always open, and we are prepared to talk to other parties, but we’re not going to be standing down unliterally.
“If there is an opportunity to co-operate, we’re open to that, and we’ve always made that clear so I think the other parties know it.
“But in the meantime, we are standing candidates in every single seat, so that everyone has the opportunity to vote Green.”
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer called for urgent action from the UK government to go beyond the compromise deal agreed at this year’s COP climate summit in Dubai.
Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
Denyer said:
“Without sustained government action following this disappointing COP28, the world is heading for a hellish future. We need to press our ambitions with a renewed vigour.
“The fact that UK climate change minister, Graham Stuart, returned to London to vote on the Rwanda Bill just as the hardest part of the negotiations got underway tells the world this Conservative government just doesn’t care.
“This is the price we pay for government chaos at home – being sidelined at the most crucial moment in the COP28 negotiations.
“COP agreed a ‘transition’ away from fossil fuels that falls far short of the fair phase out that is needed. It offers market solutions that will leave behind the poorest countries and bolster the Petro-states.
“Despite this disappointing result, we can still achieve an outcome that avoids the worst of the climate emergency while also creating safer streets, cleaner air, warmer homes, more jobs in renewable energy and support for our farmers to produce more food locally.
“There is a groundswell of calls for action from around the world – at least 127 countries called for or endorsed a decision to phase out fossil fuels at COP28. Now is the time for action.
“We got some limited cash pledges to kick-start the loss and damage fund, more warm words about the 1.5°C target and a desperate compromise on fossil-fuels that protects the interests of oil producers rather than the planet.
“We urged COP28 to achieve three vital things – the changes needed now to keep to the 1.5°C target set eight years ago in Paris; the phasing out of fossil fuels, and generous contributions to the loss and damage fund to support poorer countries through the climate crisis.
“The UK’s £60 million contribution to the loss and damage fund is not new money, and the totals pledged from the richest countries amount to less than 0.2% of the irreversible damage poorer countries are facing from global heating each year.
“Taken together, COP28 has not delivered nearly enough to tackle the climate crisis. That means it is all the more important to make our demand for action now clearer and louder.
“For instance, we must make the UK government face up to the science and cancel new oil and gas licences for the North Sea.
“It must now increase investment in onshore and offshore wind, and other forms of renewable energy, to deliver on pledges made.
“And the government must fund local councils to deliver a nationwide programme of home and business insulation to cut energy use and lower people’s bills.
“If the government here, and other world leaders, would engage seriously, we could be creating a much better and fairer future for people throughout the UK and around the world.
“We can still achieve that future. The best time to act was decades ago. The next best time is right now.”
Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
Reacting to news that the Supreme Court has blocked government plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said:
“This is welcome news. The government must now admit that its cruel and inhumane policy is finished and drop it.
“The new Home Secretary has the chance now to turn over a new leaf and make clear that there is no intention to quit the European Convention on Human Rights.
‘He should pledge to create an asylum system that works. That is one with clear, open, safe and legal routes for applicants, quick and efficient determinations and support for resettlement into local communities with properly funded local services.”
The Tories have also been accused of running a “government of destruction”
Image of InBedWithBigOil by Not Here To Be Liked + Hex Prints from Just Stop Oil’s You May Find Yourself… art auction. Featuring Rishi Sunak, Fossil Fuels and Rupert Murdoch.
Leading climate scientists have said that 2023 will go down in history as the hottest year on record, as the climate crisis continues to accelerate. Samantha Burgess, the deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service today said: “We can say with near certainty that 2023 will be the warmest year on record, and is currently 1.43C above the pre-industrial average.”
The news is a stark warning that governments are failing to get a grip on the climate emergency mere weeks before a crucial climate summit in Dubai later this month. World leaders will be meeting for the COP28 summit from November 30 to December 12 in pursuit of international agreements to reduce carbon emissions.
It also comes just one day after Rishi Sunak’s government used the King’s Speech to confirm plans for further licensing of oil and gas fields in the North Sea.
As a result, the Tory government has come under heavy criticism for its climate policies. Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer branded the government ‘totally reckless’ for continuing to push ahead with more fossil fuel extraction.
