DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Eco-reparations folly would cost us dear
Ed Miliband’s demand for Britain to pay reparations to poor countries suffering the effects of global warming are as absurd as his Climate Change Act was disastrous.
That legislation – passed with reckless insouciance when he was Labour’s energy secretary in 2008 – was the most ruinous commitment in our peacetime history.
It put the country on the slippery slope to net zero carbon by 2050, although how this target can be achieved without crashing the economy is anyone’s guess.
His plan for a Labour government to pay untold billions to foreign nations for ‘loss and damage’ linked to historical Western emissions is equally hare-brained.
The idea of sending vast amounts of taxpayers’ money to flood-hit Pakistan (to use his example) is staggering. It has, after all, got a nuclear weapons programme.
How would compensation be calculated? How could one guarantee the reparations funded genuinely green policies – and not end up lining the pockets of dictators?
Ed Miliband’s demand for Britain to pay reparations to poor countries suffering the effects of global warming are as absurd as his Climate Change Act was disastrous
And what about the flip-side of the coin? Thanks to the success of Britain’s Industrial Revolution, the whole world has enjoyed a once unimaginable leap in life expectancy and living standards.
Mr Miliband – a dismal flop as Labour leader – may come across as a harmless policy geek. Really, he’s a dangerous eco-zealot. At the BBC he is deified as some kind of climate seer. But that’s because he shares the broadcaster’s apocalyptic environmental groupthink.
Labour vehemently insists that reparation payments are not party policy. But isn’t the plain truth that in his green fervour, Mr Miliband has let the cat out of the bag?
An unhealthy walkout
Everyone who has used the NHS knows that our nurses are overwhelmingly compassionate and dedicated.
They work long hours in often difficult conditions to deliver the best care they can to their patients. We all want them to be as well paid as possible. But we also have to balance that against financial reality.
That is why – though it will find sympathy in many quarters – the Royal College of Nursing’s threat to go on strike unless its members receive a 17 per cent wage rise will set an alarming precedent.
With the Government scrambling to fill a massive budget black hole, the amount of money the country has got is hugely limited.
If nurses get a giant pay hike, every other public sector worker will demand the same. That’s not only unaffordable, but inflationary.
The Royal College of Nursing’s threat to go on strike unless its members receive a 17 per cent wage rise will set an alarming precedent. Pictured: NHS staff protesting over pay in July 2021
Should industrial action go ahead, one group of people especially will lose out – the patients. Thousands of operations could be delayed or cancelled, leaving people in pain awaiting surgery for longer.
Nursing unions should recognise their members have jobs for life and pensions many in the private sector can only dream of.
The unvarnished truth is that striking isn’t the answer. This is a political problem – and requires a political solution.
Plundering pensions
If Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is determined to alienate Middle England’s aspirational voters, he’ll do so by plundering their private pension pots in the Autumn Statement.
Yes, we know he’s desperately trying to fix the nation’s finances. But a £10billion raid on the retirement nest eggs of millions of workers risks backfiring badly.
Slashing tax relief on contributions not only discourages saving, it’s a false economy. Those who make contingency plans for their old age are removing a huge potential burden from the state.
True, this may be classic pre-Budget kite-flying to gauge public reaction. But if not, we strongly urge Mr Hunt to abandon the plans.
Self-reliance and prudence are supposed to be Tory bywords. Soaking the middle classes should be left to Labour.
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