Since coming to power last October, Rishi Sunak has failed to attend Cop27, approved a coal mine and barely mentioned climate change in his New Year speech, as Ed Miliband reminded the audience at the launch of Labour’s Climate and Environment Forum this Tuesday (10 January). But the combined environmental and climate crisis is “too central to our country’s future to ignore”, the shadow climate secretary continued, and Labour must step up where the Tories are failing. “We don’t want just the headline commitments, but to be ready to implement it.”
The forum (whose name is shortened to L-Cef, not the more Gallic sounding “L’Cef”) has been established to help achieve just that. Gathering its members from across the party’s parliamentary, local, union, NGO and activist contingents, its composition will mirror that of the Conservative Environment Network. It will educate the Labour movement on the importance of action to protect the climate and environment, as well as provide a “neutral space to build consensus on the more complex issues”, explained its director, Paul McNamee, whose previous posts include head of politics at the Green Alliance think tank.
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