No Fossil Fuel Funding

I consider it is vitally important that civic groups like Fossil Free Parliament continue to keep elected representatives both briefed on the issues and hold them to account, and I am grateful for the work they do to keep our democracy healthy and prevent malign interests from influencing parliamentary decision-making. The recent attempt of a US billionaire to influence British politics is a timely reminder of just how fragile our democracy could be. I therefore firmly support the implementation of firm safeguards and regulations on political donations.

My Liberal Democrat parliamentary colleagues and I are firm advocates for taking big money out of politics by capping donations to political parties and introducing wider reforms to party funding along the lines of the 2011 report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life. We are also strongly committed to abiding by and the enforcement of the Standards, which are established in the House of Commons and regulated by the independent Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

The last Conservative Government failed on renewable energy; reversed their promises and granted new licenses for oil and gas extraction in the north sea, sought to get away with fracking, failed to scrap their ban on on-shore wind and even introduced new restrictions on solar, despite renewable energy being the cheapest and most popular form of energy.

Combatting the climate emergency is critical for the future of our planet. The UK could and should be a world leader in this area.

The Liberal Democrats have an ambitious set of policies to address the climate crisis. In government, we would:

• Invest in renewable power to make 100% renewable power possible and ensure that at least 80% of electricity is generated from renewable energy by 2030.
• End fossil fuel subsidies both domestically and internationally.
• Refuse to enter into any trade agreements with countries that have policies counter to the Paris Agreement.
• Scale up the planting of native trees and restore the UK’s peatlands to absorb emissions and improve biodiversity.
• Undertake a ten-year programme to insulate and upgrade Britain’s homes and businesses by 2030, cutting heating bills and ending fuel poverty.
• Accelerate the development of an offshore wind energy grid in the North Sea. Our target is to expand offshore wind power substantially by 2030.
• End any further fossil fuel extraction licenses.

Though it would be challenging to end company investment in socially and environmentally desirable projects and campaigns (therefore the strictest interpretation of the Pledge your suggesting seems undeliverable) I strongly agree that now is the moment for the UK to show true leadership, and re-establish itself as a world leader in new climate economics and in ambitious green industrial strategy.