The latest Labour Business Policy Group has officially launched on the 23rd July, in the House of Commons. The two chairs, Katharine Slocombe and Frederique Prevost were joined by over 30 members of Labour Business, as well as a group of senior Parliamentarians. We discussed the current emergency and the main axis of development for the Green Policy Group. Our speakers on the evening:

  • Stephen Kinnock MP, Chair of the Labour Business Parliamentary Group
  • Clive Lewis MP, Shadow Treasury Minister for Sustainable Economics
  • Bill Esterson MP, Shadow Minister for Business and International Trade
  • Alex Sobel MP for Leeds North West
  • Karin Smyth MP for Bristol South

The evening highlighted 4 directions of travel:

  1. Creating and fostering a new kind of growth, away from the traditional measures of success based on financial growth at all costs, leading to a "cancerous growth" against ethical and environmental principles. These short-term measures need to give way to long-term, ethical measures of success that will be built upon ethical considerations, with at its core, environmental preservation.
  2. The environmental issues are global, and solutions will be global. Britain needs to proudly show the way to a greener economy. To do this, we need to look for good examples beyond our borders and focus on areas where Britain can influence the global community. Shifting the responsibility for the carbon tax from producing country to consuming countries (embedded carbon) was one example.
  3. Though pushing for a green agenda it is our responsibility, each one of us, Parliament needs to be the driver for major, and often difficult shifts across a wide range of industries and regulations. When the fire is raging, we can not simply, in Clive Lewis' words "incrementally decrease the amount of petrol we pour on the fire", we need strong actions very quickly, for instance around aviation and the automotive industry or building regulations.
  4. Finally, on a more positive note, changes lead to new opportunities: R&D has a large role to play and will define the resilience of our future industries. We need new skills, new companies and new business models. It gives the opportunity for smaller players and regions to claim a larger share of the future economy.

Labour Business Green Policy Group is breaking for the summer but we are preparing for our fringe event in Brighton where we look forward to seeing you again.

Frederique Prevost and Katharine Slocombe

Co-Chairs of the Green Policy Group

23rd July 2019 – Launch of the Green Policy Group
Share this: