Polanski and unions warn Burnham against backsliding on climate action | Environment policy

Zack Polanski has warned that backtracking on climate action would drag Labor into political uncertainty, while union leaders said more drilling in the North Sea would not benefit workers in the UK.

Speaking to the Guardian as scorching heat ravaged the country for the second time this year, the Green Party leader called on Andy Burnham, who is expected to be Britain’s next prime minister, to be bold on climate justice. He said any move to dilute the party’s commitments would have dire consequences at the ballot box.

“Half-measures or backtracking on climate action would be a moral and political failure on Andy Burnham’s part. He has the chance to be bold and failure to do so will leave our country even poorer and his party plunged further into uncertainty.”

The leader of Britain’s largest union Unison has called for a halt to oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, amid controversy within Labor and the union movement over the party’s climate commitments.

But former health secretary Wes Streeting has called for more drilling in the North Sea, including permitting the massive Rosebank oil field. Sharon Graham, leader of Unite, which represents workers in the oil and gas industry, also supports new drilling and said energy secretary Ed Miliband’s commitment to net-zero emissions would “be one”.noose around the neckThe British Chambers of Commerce said Burnham should capitalize on remaining fossil fuels in the dwindling North Sea basin “to avoid mass job losses”.

Critics point to rising number of jobs supported by industry more than half It has increased from 441,000 to 214,000 in the last decade, despite previous governments issuing hundreds of new licenses. Statistics show that 90 percent to 93 percent of available oil and gas has already been withdrawn from the basin.

But in the debate over who should be Burnham’s chancellor, some on the party’s right wing and the union movement are backing Streeting over Miliband.

A senior union source said there was widespread unease within the union movement over Unite’s pro-drilling stance. “Many in our union and other unions are concerned that Sharon’s interventions are increasing [Nigel] “Farage and his crypto supporters,” they said. “And his attack on Ed played directly into the hands of the Labor right. Wes becoming chancellor would be a bad outcome for the working class, including Sharon’s members. “It’s definitely not strategic.”

Polanski said any move to increase fossil fuel production would determine Labour’s fate. “Decades of inaction on the transition to clean energy has pushed the UK far behind where we need to be and this has come at a huge cost to the economy,” he said. “There has never been a more prescient reminder that we cannot afford to continue burning fossil fuels as the country swelters in extreme heat.”

A recent CBI report found that the net-zero economy is worth around £100bn a year to the UK, growing faster and producing higher-paying jobs than the rest of the economy.

Other unions also say the Burnham government must double down on its climate plans to deliver a fair and sustainable future. Steve Wright, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Association, said its members were on the front lines of the climate crisis tackling bushfires and heatwaves. He added: “We see first-hand the need for urgent climate action and this must include drilling restrictions in the North Sea.

“We urgently need an adaptation plan that protects the environment as well as human health. Otherwise, firefighters will still have to go above and beyond to respond to large-scale wildfires this summer and for years to come.”

Andrea Egan, leader of Unison, said this month that more drilling for fossil fuels will do no good for working-class people.

“Climate change denial is infiltrating politics like never before, as far-right parties see fossil fuels as the answer to the country’s problems,” Egan wrote. “Plundering the North Sea would make no significant difference to working-class people in Britain and would be grossly irresponsible for working-class people in the global south.”

The National Education Union, Britain’s largest teachers’ union, also called on Burnham not to back down on climate action. “This week’s extreme heatwave is causing untold disruption and inconvenience to our education system,” NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said. “This is absolutely not the time to give up on tackling the root causes of what we’ve experienced this week; if we make that mistake, these events will continue to get worse.”