28 December 2015
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett has responded to the ongoing flooding in northern England.
She said: “I offer my sympathy and best wishes to everyone affected by the extreme flooding in northern England and also by flooding in Wales and Scotland. And huge thanks must go to all of the emergency services and military personnel who’ve spent their holiday season helping those affected.”
Bennett added: “David Cameron has today said on flood defences ‘Let’s have a look and see whether more needs to be done’. [1]
“That is a wholly inadequate response to the massive disruption to communities, lives and economies, and a demonstration of the way this government has failed to respond to the reality and threats of a world now already living with one degree of warming above pre-industrial levels.
“It has been clear since its election that this government hasn’t grasped the reality of the climate change we’re already experiencing – which the experts tell us will result in more extreme weather, and extremes happening more often.
“We urgently need to not just consider flood defences, but land use across catchments, plus the protection of urban areas through sustainable drainage and similar management schemes, while ending the construction of new housing estates in vulnerable areas.
“And we urgently need the government to adopt the policies that will ensure we play our part in restricting climate change to a total of 1.5 degrees warming.
“Many of the areas affected by these floods are also facing the threat of fracking – as the government ploughs ahead with its hugely unpopular plans for allowing companies to seek more fossil fuels underneath our feet, while we know that we have to leave at least two thirds of our known fossil fuel reserves in the ground to avoid catastrophic climate change.”
Notes:
Photo below shows floods on Boxing Day in the Roch and Irwell river valleys
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