Not Green Just a Deeper Shade of Blue

This could however be a delaying tactic being played as a thinly disguised get out of jail free card. They also kindly showed no support for the inclusion of Ashdown as a landfill site in the County Council plan. It now remains with the local County Councillors to take this message to East Sussex. Here in Bexhill there is cross party opposition to this proposal which is so ably being fought by BALI - Bexhill Against Landfill and Incineration. Bexhill has had enough and it is time for alternatives to be sought.

I do however have grave doubts about Tory green credentials. Some of their proposals included in their National 'Green Deal' are clearly good deals for the privately owned energy supply companies.

We saw the Tory true credentials demonstrated in the European Parliament last week.

David Cameron's Tory MEPs launched a last minute attempt to scupper the EU's Copenhagen position of cutting carbon emissions and increasing climate change aid for developing countries.

Two Tory MEPs, Daniel Hannan and Roger Helmer, voted against a motion calling for the Copenhagen talks to agree an 80 per cent cut in emissions by 2050. They were among 18 members of the breakaway European Conservatives and Reformists Group, including its Polish leader Michal Kaminski, to oppose such a deal.

A debate was also held on the EU strategy for the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change. Conservative MEP Martin Callanan tabled an amendment that would have removed the EU-wide commitment to provide "new and additional" money for funding mitigation and adaptation measures for the developing countries that are suffering from man-made climate change. The amendment was massively defeated by 638 votes to 33.

In a separate amendment, the Conservatives opposed the Parliament's long-standing position that part of the money raised by the European Emissions Trading Scheme should be earmarked for developing countries' climate change needs. This was defeated by 588 votes to 78.

The developing world emits a tiny fraction of global carbon but bears the worst impact of climate change. Additional money is needed to deal with a growing problem for developing countries.

"It is disgraceful that the Tories are trying to duck out of this responsibility. I join with our Liberal Democrat MEPs in questioning what happened to the Tory's commitment to the environment, and to the developing world?"

Beware Tories trying to be green while remaining a deep shade of blue.