Despite their campaigning as the ‘new green’ party at the beginnning of the year, the Conservatives have come out the least green in a new survey released this week. The RenewableUK survey carried out by ComRes shows that over half this year’s prospective Conservative MPs disagree with current renewable energy targets.
With election campaigning in full flow, all the main UK political parties are desperate to show off their green credentials. Voters however want to know whether politicians are serious about tackling climate change or merely pushing for a bit of rooftop solar panel or wind turbine tokenism. The ComRes survey of 101 prospective MPs gives us an idea as to which really is the greenest party of them all.
All of the main partys’ manifestos say that they support the current UK 15% renewable energy target by 2020 however this is not reflected by all prospective MPs seeking a seat. The new survey reveals that 54% prospective Conservative MPs disagree with our current renewable energy targets with only 22% strongly supporting them. The Lib Dems came out the greenest of the 3 biggest parties with 71% strongly supporting the current commitments. Over half Labour MPs (56%) said they strongly supported the targets whilst none disagreed with them.
85% of the survey group agree that investment in new electricity grid infrastructure and renewable generation, including wind farms is a top priority over the next 20 years. Liberal Democrats are the keenest on investment with 100% agreeing strongly. Labour representatives are most keen to ‘ensure large energy infrastructure projects progress quickly through the planning system’ with 83% agreeing or agreeing strongly.
Adam Bell, Embrace Campaign Coordinator at RenewableUK said:
“This poll suggests that there is a certain amount of disconnect between the voters and political candidates. Year after year, independent polls suggest that over 80% of the people in this country support further deployment of wind energy. Politicians need to be told that NIMBYs don’t represent how British people actually think.”
