Monday 25 January 2021

Cut The Net

It turns out that "net zero by 2050" will cost over one trillion pounds. And what is "net zero"? The concept recalls the losses for tax purposes of what are obviously massively profitable corporations.

Go on, say it. The miners were right. Net zero carbon emissions is a Thatcherite idea, going back to her speeches, first to the Royal Society, and then to the UN General Assembly. Jeremy Corbyn was promising to reopen pits as recently as the 2019 Durham Miners' Gala, the last to have been held to date. What, if anything, Keir Starmer thinks, who knows? Or cares? 

But hope is at hand. With the new pit at Whitehaven, the taboo has been broken by the votes of all three parties on Cumbria County Council. Go on, say it. The miners were right. Returning to coal means repudiating Margaret Thatcher completely. Yet not doing so means the same complete repudiation of Donald Trump. Which is it to be?

Meanwhile, the NUM needs to table a motion at this year's Labour Party Conference, welcoming the new pit, congratulating the Labour-led Cumbria County Council on having approved it, and setting out its own highly developed policy on the subject. Put it to the vote.

No comments:

Post a Comment