The Climate Change 'Battle of Britain' - Conservatives dismantle Spitfires.

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If you were to equate tackling the threat of climate change with the Battle of Britain then the UK Government is busying itself closing down Spitfire factories and making Hurricane pilots redundant. It feels like responsibility for the RAF in 1940 has been handed over to Hermann Goering

Energy efficiency and renewable energy companies are shutting down and going into administration all over the country. Mark Group, established in the 70s has gone into adminstration and Climate Energy as well. My previous employer till January this year, Tadea, has folded. KNW, the company that installed my 'Technitherm' insulation has closed down. Southern Solar, that was lead by solar entrepreneur Howard Johns has gone under. This is by no means an incomplete list and is the tip of the iceberg as companies hanging on by their fingertips, make redundancies and scale back operations. These weren't fly by night companies. They had won awards for innovative projects, improved the energy performance of hundreds of thousands of homes and reduced fuel poverty. Behind all these company closures are individual human stories of people who have dedicated a good portion of their lives to combatting climate change. Under the Coalition Government times were very difficult for the sustainable energy industry with feeble leadership from the Lib Dems in DECC. Now, with the outright hostility to the renewables and energy efficiency sector, the Lib Dem collaborators make a virtue out of their poor leadership on Climate Change in the Coalition Cabinet.

So next month the Paris Climate talks seeking a global deal on emissions will be in full flow. Someone, from the shameful UK Government will attend. Will it be 'hug a husky' "Greenest Government Ever" Dave Cameron? He might show his face but should face tough questions given the decimation of the sustainable energy sector so may decide to stay away. What about the Chancellor George Osbourne, the architect of the destruction of green industry. It would be surprising if George turned up. It would be like Goering booking his own ticket to Nuremberg. He's never even pretended to show an interest in addressing climate change and if he isn't a climate change denier his actions would  easily brand him as one. We are most likely to get the once Aristocracy Advisor on 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' and now DECC Minister, Amber Rudd. She demonstrates by merely occupying the role of a DECC Minister how unimportant the Government view the issue of climate change.

 The UK Governments pig-headed pursuit of programmes and policies  that put our planet and people in peril are profoundly perplexing.(My entry for alliteration sentence of the year!). They are dangerous and irresponsible. What do we do?  When a Government is elected on a dodgy mandate of 37% of electors, via an archaic electoral system, they are on very uncertain ground, particularly when ideologically driven policies fly in the face of reason. The Conservatives are certainly at fault but acceptance of their legitimacy is a large part of the problem. Labour's continuing opposition to electoral reform is effectively an acceptance of the system that is a large part of the problem. Another 'one last push' approach by Labour to their own version of an illegitimate Government does not provide the change we need. What is needed is the type of mobilisation we had for the 'Battle of Britain' to address Climate Change and the same to update our broken Democracy. It is needed urgently. It is needed now.