The poll, which has just been published, supports a carbon tax on industry, a levy on flying, a maximum speed limit of 60mph on motorways, and a campaign to reduce meat consumption by 10% – measures which had up to 94% public support. The most popular policy mix selected by the public was:
- A carbon tax of £75 per tonne on polluting manufacturing and construction businesses, with some funding to invest in new technologies, supported by 94% of people.
- Better-integrated public transport coordinated by local government (93%).
- Food campaigns and support from government, supermarkets and food companies promoting plant-based diets and cutting meat and dairy consumption by 10% (93%).
- A comprehensive UK-wide electric vehicle charging network by 2028 (91%).
- Raising flying costs, particularly on frequent fliers (89%).
- Some restrictions on cars entering city centres and a 60mph speed limit on motorways (82%).
- Support for less intensive farming and paying farmers to improve nature, including woodlands (79%).
- Grants for heat pumps and home insulation for low-income households and low-interest loans for others, reaching 1.4m heat pump installations a year by 2030 (77%).
Polly Mackenzie, the CEO of Demos said:
There is an overwhelming consensus of support behind [these] solutions,” said “The UK government must listen to the public and urgently set out a strategy that will provide a greener, stronger and better future for us all.
This important new analysis, titled The Climate Consensus, and used a market research company
to provide a nationally representative sample of 22,000 people, including participants from every parliamentary constituency. The participants used a climate calculator to choose the policies they preferred in order to meet the government’s 2030 target of a 39% reduction in emissions compared to 2019.
The poll is a remarkable affirmation of public support for a radical green agenda – taxing the polluters in particular. One proposal on the table in this regard is James Hansen’s ‘fee and dividend proposition‘. This provides for very big fees to be levied against the producers at source and redistributed to the general public on a progressive basis. This should be a part of a package of measures that would transfer wealth from the rich to the poor in order to ensure that they would not lose out in the process.
All such measures should be introduced in a way that is consistent with both social and economic justice and which could spark a new generation of public support.
Art Book Review Books Campism Capitalism China Climate Emergency Conservative Government Conservative Party COVID-19 Creeping Fascism Economics EcoSocialism Elections Europe Event Video Far-Right Fascism Film Film Review Fourth International France Gaza History Imperialism Israel Italy Keir Starmer Labour Party Long Read Marxism Marxist Theory Migrants Palestine pandemic Police Protest Russia Solidarity Statement Trade Unionism Trans*Mission Ukraine United States of America War
Already the backsliding begins. ITV news is reporting that the Government has changed one point in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. They have accepted that academies will retain their ‘freedom’ to set their own pay scales for teachers. So the criteria in the School Teachers Pay and Conditions document will only apply to teachers in Local Authority schools. Why have the Government climbed down on this issue? It’s not as if this is a major financial problem for academies. But what will be the next change/climb down by the Government? Will academies be exempt from the National Curriculum? Will Local Authorities be able to build schools according to the needs of their communities or will all new schools, as at present, have to be academies?