UKIP and climate change



Nigel Farage on climate change



There's a lot that has been said about UKIP in the last few days, probably too much. How can yet another right wing free market party make a real difference to British Politics. Do people really want another party that wants to make the rich even richer than the Coalition are doing? Will their Councillors who have been elected so easily be any good or do they merely represent a snapshot in time of dissatisfaction with the current larger parties by voting for one which in reality is very similar to them if more unpleasant with a speciality in being against UK membership of the European Union? Any envy here? You bet there is. I very much wish the Green Party were celebrating as many gains in UKIP rather than the steady progress we make at each local election? Our steady progress may be more lasting and sustainable but it is darned frustrating.

What I'll concentrate on is UKIP and climate change. For one thing they don't believe it's happening. They are in the late stages of 'Canute Syndrome' - see earlier post. They fit into the 'climate change is a left wing green theory to damage our economy' camp. Classic conspiracy theory folks with all the contrived unscientific un-peer reviewed 'evidence' to back up their stridently expressed views. "Climate Change? as harmless as smoking in pubs" they might say. This has led to a 'policy' urging Councils to get rid of 'useless Climate Change Officers'. It exhibits a total lack of understanding of the fact that many of the staff with these titles have already been made redundant not because they were 'useless' but simply due to the financial pressures Councils have been under . Kirklees itself has lost many staff in the Environment Unit in the last few weeks. Staff working on climate change don't simply sit at their desks musing about global climate change most would be running programmes to improve the energy efficiency of council buildings, reducing energy costs and saving money as well as carbon emissions. They would be in charge of  projects drawing in millions of pounds of finance to insulate homes saving householders money and tackling fuel poverty.

The UKIP stance on climate change officers is just one example where prejudice drives their policy rather knowledge or experience.  In reality their view on this reflects a lot of Tory grassroots and backbench views and you can imagine a lot of defections of Tory activists who prefer UKIP populism to what they regard as 'political correctness gone mad!" - wipes foam from mouth.