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Environment Minister: Climate change is a ruse to push draconian policies and high taxes
Friday, 27 February 2009
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Environment Minister Sammy Wilson has claimed the Labour Government is using climate change to push through draconian policies and high taxes.
Sammy Wilson, of the Democratic Unionist Party, ridiculed ideas such as a carbon credit card and other moves focusing on emissions.
He clashed with Whitehall earlier this year after objecting to a climate change advert from London which mentioned carbon.
He said: "I can understand why it is important that the message be gotten over by a government which has now so many policies, so many intrusive policies.
"I can understand why they want to get the subliminal message over. That's the only way the Government is going to succeed in getting people to accept the draconian increases."
He said these increases included taxation and challenges to people's ability to travel.
Mr Wilson was appearing before the Stormont Environment Committee which recently passed a vote of no confidence in him over the climate change adverts row.
He dismissed part of it as "insidious" government propaganda and questioned the idea that turning off a light could save the world.
In 2006 then environment secretary David Miliband suggested carbon credit cards could be issued as part of a nationwide carbon rationing scheme.
An annual allowance would be allocated, with the card being swiped on various items such as travel, energy or food.
Mr Miliband said people who used less than their allowance could sell any surplus to those who wanted more.
Mr Wilson alleged: "Those are the kind of policies which are being put forward to get people to accept that, then you have got to persuade them that there's some drastic things coming down the road."
The minister has faced criticism from environmental groups and members of the committee.
However, the Democratic Unionist Assembly member for East Antrim put in a pugilistic performance today in defending his attitude to the climate change adverts.
He added: "When a minister from Westminster says it doesn't matter what the view of the devolved administrations across the UK are, we have decided on this, we are not even prepared to enter into a discussion ... I think I was probably standing up for the rights of the devolved administration."
He said he believed in improving energy efficiency because it made "common sense" to do so and dismissed any calls for him to go.
"I have done the job to the best of my ability, I have done it diligently. Do I always get it right? Probably not, because I am not infallible.
"If it came to votes of no confidence I can dispense with them because if I thought I was not doing my job right I would resign."
The minister alleged some of the global warming doomsayers had been the most vociferous in the past, "wanting to spray glaciers black" to ward off an ice age, despite the industrial revolution.
He was involved in clashes with Ulster Unionist Assembly member David McClarty who cited the recent arrival in Britain of a Catholic bishop who questioned the truth of the Holocaust after being asked to leave Argentina. He said Mr Wilson's views were also "abhorrent" to some people here.
The minister said there was no comparison between the reality of the dead bodies of the Holocaust and the "theory" of climate change amid claims in the committee that Mr McClarty's intervention was inappropriate.
UUP committee member Roy Beggs accused him of seeking scientific backing from an American institute partly funded by the oil industry.
But Mr Wilson said it was a small percentage of support and claimed many scientists expressing concern had links with environmentalists.
There have been warnings of catastrophic flooding and large areas of the planet turned into desert if the rate of global warming is not checked.
Sinn Fein MLA Daithi McKay said: "I think the environmental sector has no confidence in the minister, the general public has no confidence, his Executive colleagues and even members of his own party have no confidence in him."
Mr Wilson had calculated the carbon footprint of many of his critics on the committee.
He said Mr McClarty circumnavigated the world on Assembly business and added that a perfectly good train service from his East Londonderry constituency to Belfast could significantly reduce the amount of carbon he was responsible for.
Mr Wilson levelled similar points at other committee members but neglected to produce figures for his own travel.
He had just stepped off a plane from Westminster, where he is MP for East Antrim. Mr McKay said Sinn Fein was doing its part to cut down on unnecessary travel by discouraging its MPs from attending.
Meanwhile, an AA survey of 15,806 drivers said more than half of drivers over-estimated their vehicle's contribution to global warming.
The AA claimed this made them an "easy target" for punitive council green schemes.
It said road transport accounted for approximately a fifth of emissions, industry a third, and domestic users a quarter.
AA president Edmund King said: "Our research also shows that motorists do consider fuel efficiency when buying a car. However, there seems to be a 'green' bandwagon that more councils are jumping on to penalise drivers for parking charges based on their cars' CO2 emissions.
"In reality, this is a green smokescreen to raise revenue which will do little to help the environment.
"The AA Charitable Trust is encouraging eco-driving by offering free driver training and perhaps councils should be promoting such initiatives rather than penalising families who own larger vehicles."
Northern Ireland Green Party European election candidate Steven Agnew said the minister was defying substantial evidence and world opinion.
"The minister is saying that saving energy is only an issue for the poor and that the wealthy can keep wasting energy if they can afford to. This is a foolish and dangerous suggestion.
"1,918 people have signed our 'fire Sammy Wilson' petition, which indicates how dissatisfied people are with our minister of environment."
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Comments
28 Comments
Global warming is a hoax to separate well meaning gullible people from their money to support a vast non productive elite.
Posted by Marty | 05.03.09, 06:39 GMT
John,
You wrote: "The DoE should be assisting the new technologies that we can then export to the world."
Would you please explain how emissions trading will provide new technology? Increasing the cost of goods & services to help fund technological development is a reasonable approach if there are laws in place to ensure that the money is spent on research & development.
However, paying others for the right to continue polluting the atmosphere - & ermissions trading is precisely that - will do nothing to reduce CO2 emissions. Via the goods & services tax (GST) & VAT embodied in the increased cost of goods & services, governments will reap countless $trillions to spend as they please in the absence of laws to ensure it is allocated to emission reduction research & development.
Posted by jock | 03.03.09, 23:35 GMT
Sammy is ignorant in both senses. He speaks for people who can't face reality and change. His DoE should be specifing the efficient buildings and assisting the new technologies that we can then export to the world. The DUP are thinking cynically and short-term, by putting Sammy as head of the environment.
Posted by John | 03.03.09, 12:35 GMT
Wow! So 1918 people of a world inhabited by six billion, have signed a petition expressing the view that Sammy Wilson is out of step & should be sacked.
Did anyone mention that from hemisphere to hemisphere, civilservice retirement-funding is underfunded to the tune of more $trillions than King Midas could provide & that means that public funded climate-change scientists & their political yes-men are faceing a bankrupt retirement rather than the idle rich life style of which they've dreamed for decades? No one mentioned that, you say. Yeah, I didn't think they would have mentioned the real motive for weaving a co2 sin-tax into the cost of all goods & services.
Posted by jock | 27.02.09, 22:54 GMT
does anyone remember the millenium bug? experts and scientists told us it was going to be the end of the world - in fact nothing happened and government ministers had to explain why tax payers spent 40 billion in the uk for something that never even existed!
Posted by Kenneth | 27.02.09, 21:02 GMT
A brave or possibly naive man.Anthropogenic Global Warming is the religion of the day.Mr.Wilson may yet get first-hand experience of the fate of heretics.
Posted by R.J.M | 27.02.09, 20:17 GMT
Well there is a grain of truth in what Sammy said. One of the biggest gripes that people in England have are bin charges, introduced by New Labour in the name of reducing waste. The idea behind them and other "green taxes" is that people would be taxed for environmentally unsound things and to offset this, other taxes such as VAT and Council Tax would be reduced. This gives people an incentive to reduce waste so that they would be better off overall. The problem was that The Treasury couldn't see past the £ signs and slapped them on as additional taxes. Many of the people who originally thought up green taxes have condemned this very angrily. The whole thing has made people much more cynical about environmental issues as they think it's just an excuse for more taxes.
Posted by Planner | 27.02.09, 18:26 GMT
Has anyone recently looked at the world map? Can the UK even be seen on it? What earthly difference can we make on this planet? Making the UK public feel guilty about carbon footprints of pilot lights when this government is intent on a third runway at Heathrow and an extension of Belfast City Airport ~ not to mention the never ending flight trail blazing of politicians ~
is totally hypocritical
Posted by Kathleen Dunne | 27.02.09, 18:12 GMT
Who caused the global warming that ended the last Ice age ? and isnt it true that a high fibre diet causes methane gas to be released into the atmosphere creating an even bigger hole in the ozone layer.
Posted by Sam | 27.02.09, 18:09 GMT
There are none so blind that cannot see! For an educated man Mr. Wilson is ignorant regarding global warming. The causes may be irrelevant,however the world's population can only benefit when air,and water sources are freed from pollutants. The reduction of pollutants will result in fewer illnesses,therefore reduced medical costs. Come on Mr. Wilson start thinking outside the box,and do what is right by the people of the world.
Posted by RMS | 27.02.09, 16:44 GMT
Well said, Sammy. My thoughts exactly.
Climate change is currently a fashionable and very lucrative issue for those who have vested interests in making it so.
Posted by Karyn | 27.02.09, 16:39 GMT
Again, people detract from the facts. He is a minister put there by the electorate to represent them. His personal opinions do not come into it.
Why does he not commission a report to back up his personal beliefs? If an ambiguity does arise is that not what government should do? Something to bolster your position, oh, sorry, the electorate's position?
Am I getting confused?
Does the popular opinion not count for anything? Does general consesus mean nothing?
Oh that's right, a politician's unqualified opinion is the right way to go because he read something somewhere. It's a pity us underlings haven't learnt to read or write. Who knows where we would be.
Posted by PC | 27.02.09, 15:55 GMT
and yet again, just like the evolution discussion everyone talks about this undeniable evidence. undeniable evidence that you dare not speak its name? nobody ever mentions the evidence that proves their point of view, they just carry on believing in it because their mate told them its true. lets be honest here, as enviorment minister, sammy is probably better educated on the subject than all of us, and he doesnt buy it. that shows an independance of thought that nobody else on these pages seem to have. but thats why were here spouting rubbish about a subject most of us know nothing about, and he gets paid for it....whos stupid?
Posted by marty | 27.02.09, 15:20 GMT
Centaur,
According to the United States Geological Survey volcanoes only contribute about a half of one percent of one percent of the atmospheric CO2.
Will that change your mind?
Posted by Eamon | 27.02.09, 14:42 GMT
I wonder where the likes of Neill and Jon have been but certainly they have not been educating themselves on the topic of Global Warming.
Perhaps, for a change, Sammy has a valid point.
Posted by robbo | 27.02.09, 13:28 GMT
I think Sammy's looking be The Star in the Reasonably Priced Car on Top Gear.
If Clarkson gets to see this HE WILL !
Posted by pablo | 27.02.09, 12:51 GMT
How can an international panel of scientists (the IPCC) come to a consensus that global warming is anthropogenic, publish it in top class peer review journals, refute many of the accusations and pseudo science surrounding their critics and still be disbelieved.
It's sunspots causing this not CO2?? Yes the sun is more active than it has been in years, but it's activity has plateaued of late and guess what, temperatures keep rising. The best scientific minds in the world have looked at this from every angle possible. What makes Sammy Wilson think he can challenge them. Similar to his colleague Mervyn Storey challenging the fact of Darwinian Evolution. What's next for NI? Witch burnings at Stormont??
This is crazy. The problem is the publics' complete misunderstanding of science and what constitutes evidence. In their world, anecdote and the opinions of people paid off by logging and oil companies are more credible. Have they heard of the term conflcit of interest?
Posted by Brandywineni | 27.02.09, 12:43 GMT
shocking - a man like this in a position of some power, it'd bring tears to your eyes.
Posted by Michael | 27.02.09, 12:33 GMT
global warming is a fact, but taxation using global warming as an excuse is out of order
Posted by Neill | 27.02.09, 12:20 GMT
Jon, WHAT "undeniable scientific facts" are you referring to? Yes, science has proved the earth is warming up - but NOT that humans are causing it! The volcanoes of earth produce many, many times more pollutants than all of our puny little machines combined. Should we tax the countries that allow their volcanoes to emit fumes?
Posted by Centaur | 27.02.09, 12:12 GMT
28 Comments