The Tories don't give two hoots about climate change, say 10:10 campaigners

Blue water between the Tories and almost every other political party in the UK is getting clearer and clearer if the local council sign-ups to the 10:10 campaign are anything to go by.


At a national level, the cabinet and the Tory and Lib Dem front benches signed up. So far, so good for our national politicians. After the Lib Dems passed a motion at conference to encourage its councils to commit to reducing carbon emissions 10% in 2010, Labour followed suit.


But so far, out of all the 41 councils that have either passed a motion to join 10:10 or are waiting to do so, but only two of them - Stroud and West Sussex - are Tory-led. This comes as a surprise, given the Tory party's exuberant greenery. On Friday, David Cameron made an impassioned speech to the Sustainable Consumption Institute, stressing the importance of council action in reducing emissions from consumers.


Alexis Rowell, the 10:10 coordinator for councils, claims that Surrey, North Yorkshire and Westminster have all refused to join. And yes, their common colour is blue. "When 10:10 was launched," he said, "David Cameron and the Tory shadow cabinet were very quick to get on board. But there's a real disconnect between the shadow cabinet and Tory-run councils. On the ground, we're getting the sense that the Tories don't give two hoots about climate change."


Franny Armstrong, founder of the 10:10 campaign, has expressed surprise at the lack of Tory sign-ups: "I think the phenomenal support for 10:10 shows that Britain is ready to take much stronger action on climate change."


"I'm disappointed that the Tories, who have made such positive strides on environmental policy, are acting as a roadblock to the campaign locally when their leadership has been so publicly supportive of 10:10."


But more evidence has emerged to suggest that the shadow cabinet's enthusiasm for 10:10 is not repeated at local level. Last Wednesday, Tory members of the London assembly walked out of a 10:10 motion brought by Lib Dem leader Mike Tuffrey.


Tuffrey said that it was "surprising and deplorable" that the Tory assembly members walked out, along with a British National party member. "I can only presume they walked out because they didn't want to be seen to be against it. London ought to be leading on this."


But the London assembly Tories deny they walked out to make the assembly inquorate and therefore unable to vote.


The deputy leader of the Conservative group, James Cleverly, said: "It was not a ploy. The meeting was a mayor's question time, and the assembly had finished questioning him. The substantive part of the meeting was over and various members had other diary commitments. This vote would have contributed nothing to the scrutiny of the mayor, so we left."

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