Green record

I had planned to utter a pronouncement on the Conservative manifesto today, but it has proved to be a bit too chewy for a quick judgment. Perhaps something will appear here at the weekend. As to the Green Party manifesto, here is the Green Liberal Democrats' verdict: "its dogmatic and doom-laden approach will simply not gain enough public support till it’s too late".

To my rescue in filling the space comes Michael McCarthy in the Indy with a view on the coalition's record. He looks over "the environmental record of the coalition Government just gone. Its outstanding success has been action on global warming: the passing of the fourth carbon budget, which commits the UK to the toughest regime for cutting carbon emissions in the world. We should note at once, however, this was in essence a Liberal Democrat achievement, brought about by two Lib Dem Secretaries of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne (who was outstanding) and Ed Davey (who has been pretty competent)".

However, he adds: "it should be recorded here that Caroline Spelman, [...] Defra Secretary from 2010-2012, seemed to have her heart in the right place, environmentally. Spelman eventually got the chop (partly because she had to take the blame for the forests sell-off fiasco, when the real culprit was the cold-eyed zealot in the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude)." It should be pointed out that there were also massive conflicts of interest. Nothing is black and white in politics, but some practitioners are brighter green than others.