One year ago, on this day, January 10, 2023,
The Labour Climate and Environment Forum (LCEF) launched on Tuesday [2023 01 10] in parliament and is now signing up MPs. The group argues “that tackling the climate and environment emergency is an issue of social justice and economic prosperity that should sit comfortably at the heart of the movement as a core Labour value.”
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 419.5ppm. As of 2024 it is 422 ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context? They say opposition is easy. All you have to do is denounce the complacency, incompetence and greed of the government (and governments are all always, especially after a couple of terms complacent, greedy, and incompetent). But actually, things like this Labour Climate and Environment Forum present a headache for Keir Starmer, who needs to stop voters bleeding away to the left, while also holding on to that mythical beast, middle England. And so this presents a series of presentational challenges.
He doesn’t have control over what bodies do and do not get set up. At least not yet. So the activists keep trying to raise Starmer’s ambition, but Starmer is trying to play a dead head sorry, dead bat to everything. How this all plays out during an election campaign in the immediate aftermath remains to be seen.
Meanwhile Starmer is flying kites about watering down the 28 billion a year pledge (managing expectations?).
What happened next? Well watch the space. No new publications from the LCEF since October, despite COP28 and so forth. Are they all busy waiting for the May 2024 election? Or have the thumbscrews been applied?
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
Also on this day:
Jan 10, 1974 – Clean Air call for #Manchester
January 10, 1991 – “Separate studies rank 1990 as world’s warmest year” #ShiftingBaseline