Where is the environment, Green Party’s Caroline Lucas asks Labour and Tories
The Green Party co-leader visited Labour’s London headquarters and Downing Street with a giant green question mark.
Caroline Lucas has urged party leaders to put environmental issues “back on the agenda” as she criticised the “conspicuous” absence of the environment during the General Election campaign.
The Green Party co-leader said it was “scandalous” that the environment barely featured in the manifesto commitments of the other parties, and accused them of taking “no action” on problems such as air pollution.
She was joined by several dozen Green Party supporters as they marched between Labour’s London headquarters and Downing Street carrying a sign asking “Where’s the environment” and a large green question mark on Tuesday morning.
Ms Lucas gave a rallying cry to supporters on Parliament Square, telling those gathered: “The environment has been conspicuous by its absence so far in this election campaign, there is nothing from the other parties.”
She questioned the limited environmental commitments from other parties, and said that people “need to know” their stance.
“The environment is not just some bolt-on extra that you apply once you’ve dealt with the other bigger issues,” Ms Lucas told the Press Association.
“We know that a clean and safe environment is absolutely the bottom line for any future prosperity for this country or for our people, and that ought to be a number one priority then for the Government.”
She said that other major issues, such as the NHS and Brexit, were “absolutely linked to the environment”, and criticised Theresa May’s plans for an “extreme Brexit” which she claimed “poses real risks to our environmental protections”.
Ms Lucas also said she was “really shocked” that air pollution “hardly features” in the Conservative manifesto.
“We know that the poor air quality in this country is linked to the premature deaths of 40,000 people in the UK alone, we know it costs the economy £20 billion, we know that people are scared to let their kids play out in playgrounds in certain big cities right now across the country because of the air pollution crisis and yet we see no action on that from the Government or indeed really from the other parties either.
“We’re saying please will you put this back on the agenda, people care about it, it is a political issue and we need to know what commitments the parties are going to make on it running up to this election day.”
Ms Lucas has also sent letters to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Mrs May expressing “alarm” at the lack of discussion and debate about the environment during the seven-week campaign.
