Keir Starmer – 2022 Article on Rishi Sunak and the Environment

A section of the article written by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, in the Observer Newspaper on 6 November 2022.

Sunak is the latest person to attempt to govern an ungovernable party. He is unable to focus on Britain’s future because he’s plastering over the mess the Tories have made. Just this weekend, he used his first interview as prime minister to shrug his shoulders and say he can’t fix the problems we face. This tired, fatalistic, outdated approach is a recipe for more of the same. It has no chance of grasping a fairer, greener future.

It is time for a fresh start. One that recognises the crises we face are linked and will only be solved by a new approach.

The UK’s energy bills disaster was exacerbated by Putin’s grotesque invasion of Ukraine. But it was caused by 12 years of failure by Tory governments to unhook Britain from its dependence on fossil fuels.

At the same time, we have an accelerating climate crisis, illustrated most recently by the devastating floods in Pakistan and Britain’s first 40C days.

The truth of our age is that the solution to both of these calamities is adopting cheap, clean, homegrown power as fast as we can. We are lucky; our island nation has abundant natural resources of wind, water and solar. It is an act of national self-harm not to prioritise them over more expensive gas. I wouldn’t be dragged to Cop27 as prime minister, I’d be leading the way. My first objective would be to persuade world leaders that we need to get to clean energy as quickly as possible. It’s why I have set a world-leading commitment for Britain to be the first major economy to reach 100% clean power by 2030. The ambition of those plans is matched only by my determination to deliver them. Under my Labour government, the UK will become a clean energy superpower.