Ribble Valley Labour Party will be supporting a Green New Deal at the Labour Party conference in Brighton this month.

At the CLP meeting on 1st August, Ribble Valley Labour Party passed a motion to back the grassroots Labour Party members’ campaign “Labour for a Green New Deal” and subsequently submit it as the CLP Resolution to the Labour Party Conference this month.

The fight to save the planet from climate change is becoming increasingly urgent and it is vital that the Labour Party leads the way on this issue. 

In America, Democrat Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is calling for a “Green New Deal” and progressive campaigners in the US are keen for the Labour Party to support this move. Earlier this year, Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Clive Lewis (shadow minister for sustainable economics) met Zak Exley, one of the architects of the Green New Deal campaign. Meanwhile, Rebecca Long-Bailey, shadow secretary for business, energy and industrial strategy, has called for a “green industrial revolution.” 

Writing about the environmental crisis in The Guardian, Long-Bailey said:

“Tackling this emergency is going to take something big, something on the scale of the first industrial revolution. But unlike the first industrial revolution, this must be anchored in dignity at work, social justice, equality and international solidarity. The central mission of this industrial revolution must be to stop dangerous climate change and reverse the environmental degradation kickstarted by the first,”.

Long-Bailey went on to say that tackling the climate emergency:

“Will require the UK to reimagine its energy system, transport, agriculture, housing – its entire economy – so that it works for the many, not the few, long into the future.” 

Climate change is a class issue

Labour for a Green New Deal is a grassroots Labour members’ campaign to “transform the economy through unprecedented investment in technology, infrastructure and people” They argue that, like the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, which focussed on profits for the captains of industry, climate change is also a class issue. 

Their website states: “An unequal and oppressive economic system has destabilised our climate, leaving working-class people in the UK and across the globe suffering the devastating impacts of climate breakdown. Meanwhile, the rich reap the profits.”

The Labour for a Green New Deal campaign aims to:

• Create good green jobs in every town and city across the UK.
• Transform our energy systems from polluting fossil fuels to clean renewables.
• Democratise industry and social infrastructure through powerful unions, democratic control and expanded public ownership.
• Address the economic and ecological consequences of climate breakdown and global inequality by building solidarity across borders.

More resources and information can be found at Labour For A Green New Deal’s website here.