Tory grassroots told environment is a 'core value'
Peter Ainsworth tries to persuade sceptical Tory voters that the environment is a core value.
Wednesday, 03, Oct 2007 12:00
The shadow environment secretary today attempted to sell the Conservative's green agenda to a sceptical grassroots.
Peter Ainsworth said the Quality of Life policy review was "absolutely not" about increasing bureaucracy and taxation.
Addressing the final day of the Conservative conference, he also hit out at those who think the focus on environmental issues is a departure from traditional Tory values.
People who think the green agenda is removed from core values, Mr Aisnworth argued, do not understand that Conservative values include respect for the countryside and natural world, cutting waste, increasing innovation enterprise and investment in new technologies.
At times his speech risked becoming as much about arguing for the need to change, as setting out how this change would take place.
Mr Ainsworth told delegates: "We stand no chance of making poverty history in Bangladesh or Blackpool if we continue to trash the earth's life support structures.
"Continuing to damage the marine environment, not only spells ecological disaster but threatens the very existence of our fishing industry."
Pursuing the market driven approach, he asked if it was wise to base an economy on fossil fuels when these are a finite resource, and if the UK ought to be dependent on Russia and the Middle East for its supply of power.
He said: "As energy security soars up the political agenda do we really want to go on wasting it?"
Mr Ainsworth promised the next Conservative government would herald a "revolution" in the way energy is generated and supplied. He contrasted this critically with Labour's "tinkering at the edges" of environmental policy.
He announced plans for a Power Station Waste Heat Levy, which would capture and use the wasted heat from power stations.
The Conservatives would also encourage people to generate their own power, through feed-in-tariffs for those installing their own micro-generation devices.
This would mean people, like David Cameron, with their own wind turbines or other power generators could sell surplus energy back to the National Grid.
Mr Ainsworth said the Conservatives also wanted to reform payment of energy and water services to make it fairer for poorer households.
He called for a smarter approach to waste, arguing people should be encouraged to recycle more rather than charging them for excess rubbish.
This would include a crackdown on excess packaging he said, but with the onus placed on supermarkets not consumers.
"Of course we will not charge people for using supermarkets," he told delegates.
The emphasis would be on "encouragement not punishment," he continued: "Helping people to do the right thing, creating opportunities for enterprise and ensuring the polluter pays."
The Conservative leadership admitted they would be rejecting many of the Quality of Life review's recommendations as "barmy". However, co-author Zac Goldsmith insists it has been well received, saying just two of his proposals have been rejected.