Keir Starmer Pledges – Challenge Motions – Climate Justice

November 21, 2020

Northern England Labour Left (NELL) intends to hold the Party Leadership to account. Our members have produced a number of motions for use in Branch and Constituency Labour Parties that challenge Keir Starmer to follow the pledges he made during his Leadership campaign. They can be adapted over time as required. 

Motion: Climate Justice

[This body] notes Keir Starmer’s leadership pledge for Climate Justice:

“Put the Green New Deal at the heart of everything we do. There is no issue more important to our future than the climate emergency. A Clean Air Act to tackle pollution locally. Demand international action on climate rights.”

This Branch/CLP also notes:

  • the Green New Deal resolution carried at Labour Party National Conference 2019 and which is current Labour Party policy; 
  • the statement made by Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesperson in ‘The Independent’ on Friday 26 June 2020 11:12: 

“The last manifesto made a number of really important commitments on this, which Keir supported, but we lost the election and Labour lost five years in government to tackle climate change.

“The next manifesto, the next target, will be written in four or five years’ time and we’ll have to deal with the circumstances we are in then.”

  • the statement from Labour for a Green New Deal in the same article above:

“We strongly oppose the suggestion that Labour should abandon its vital, popular and ground breaking climate programme because of our election defeat. With the Arctic on fire and unemployment soaring, the Green New Deal has never been more urgent. It’s not enough for Keir Starmer to delay this question until 2024 – he must fight for our programme, and our planet, now.”

  • the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that the world must reach net zero carbon by 2050 if global warming is to be kept below 1.5C, an irreversible threshold over which climate disaster quickly intensifies.

This BLP/CLP believes:

  • the stance of the Leader has sown confusion among members about Labour’s commitment to the New Green Deal and has sent a signal to the general public that Labour has no clear policy on tackling the Global Climate Crisis;
  • Labour’s prospect of retaining and winning the support of voters will be damaged if we cannot challenge the Tory Government by having a clear policy on the Global Climate Crisis.

This BLP/CLP resolves that the Branch/CLP Secretary should write to the leader:

  • to seek his public commitment to the current Green New Deal policy, as per resolutions made democratically at 2019 Labour Party Conference;
  • to request that a new Climate Justice policy process be started urgently, taking account latest climate crisis information and fully consulting relevant climate experts and interested parties, including Labour for a Green New Deal.