‘I hate tree huggers’: How Starmer apparently exploded over Labour’s green policy
‘I hate tree huggers’: How Starmer apparently exploded over Labour’s green policy
The Labour leader’s outburst followed a presentation from climate and net zero spokesman Ed Miliband
I thought this was a hoax the first time I saw this story. But apparently not. The man is becoming a parody of himself.
12ft.io link for those who cannot be arsed with the Indie: https://12ft.io/proxy?&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fuk%2Fpolitics%2Flabour-green-climate-change-starmer-miliband-b2372012.html
I really hope this is something that Miliband and the rest of the party can work around. A party is not the leader, but we cannot go through another decade with leadership not giving climate change the incredibly serious treatment it requires.
I'd be genuinely surprised if he got that passionate about anything.
I know they need to win back Red Wall Labour voters but with the bold green policy Ed Miliband favours, they might get more young people enthused and out to vote which could be crucial in a lot of constituencies. I can't see why they wouldn't vote Green and voting intentions show quite a few people on the left leaning that way.
Young people don't vote in big enough numbers to make any difference in elections though. There might have been an increase when Corbyn was leader, but they were largely racking up votes in places where they were already winning, so it was useless.
Unfortunately, it's the 60+ brigade who decide elections and whose votes the parties need to court. Which is why every party is a NIMBY party.
Starmer is about to change this dynamic with the addition of younger voters and EU residents.
It's very annoying that you're completely spot on. There has been decent evidence of the younger vote making a substantial dent in Welsh politics, but that's understandable considering the change in voter laws, but the rest of the UK? Yeah, no chance.
Not until something major comes to pass anyhow, guess we can hope.
Starmer “wasn’t interested in hope and change”.
With each passing day Starmer becomes repugnant to someone like me who was a traditional Labour voter. A right-wing Starmer government could enable decades of future neoliberal Tory ones.
Is there a particular mechanism are you worried about in that regard? Off the top of my head there's the Overton window type stuff and just the elimination of the leftist voice that has historically come from labour. I'm more scared of the tories figuring their shit out and realising that all they have to do is not say the quiet part out loud to be electable again, which is kind of independent of starmer.
After years of being a Labour member and stepping back and taking a good look at things, I now can’t help but see Labour as controlled opposition (and more or less just one aspect of the same political party - much like the bipartisan USA system).
I think it’s always been this way, though. Perhaps the great gains for democracy and socialism in Britain have always happened as a result of the ruling class seeing revolution abroad and knowing they need to concede at home. Perhaps, Labour has always been the mechanism for that.
I heard David Lammy on LBC yesterday doing his best impression of a Tory being outraged that someone dared to throw orange confetti at a wedding. And I felt I really have little in common with him.
Around 2010 a friend of mine made noises about getting into politics. They said they'd join the tory party not because they sided with them on policy or liked their ethos, but because they'd be "winning for a long time so that was the only way to have any impact". At the time it put me off my friend, but really I should have taken this as a lesson about where politicians come from and their motivation. Starmer just seems like a prime example of someone who sees the game as more important than the people of this country. Is that definitionally true of "centrists"? I can't believe a principled person can look at the state of the nation and think. Yes, we need to very urgently make no major changes.
I find myself largely in agreement with him.
It seems you can now categorise environmentalists into two distinct groups:
Group 1 prioritizes preservation over progress, insisting on halting all developmental projects to protect every speck of biodiversity. This includes everything from rare newt species to broader environmental concerns, which are used as reasons to oppose various forms of green energy initiatives such as battery factories, solar installations, wind and tidal turbines. The ironic consequence of this approach is that despite protecting individual species in the short term, long-term survival becomes more precarious as global warming accelerates unchecked.
Group 2, which I personally identify with, holds a more pragmatic view. This group acknowledges the inevitable environmental impact of green technologies, such as harm to individual species and certain ecosystem disturbances. Yet, they firmly believe that without expediting the implementation of green technology, we risk compromising the planet's overall sustainability.
While I understand and appreciate the intent behind the preservationist approach, I feel frustrated. In my view, their well-meaning actions might inadvertently exacerbate the very environmental crises we're striving to mitigate.
Seemed to me that Starmer falls in the “I don’t really believe there’s a climate catastrophe happening” camp.
If he did, he wouldn’t say stuff like this or - more importantly - avoid adopting policies that require immediate action when he gets into power.
“Tree huggers” = people who believe the climate catastrophe is an imminent existential crisis.
None of that has anything to do with his unprofessional outburst.
In your opinion, which you are entitled to hold.
In my opinion it does go some way towards explaining it. I feel Starmer falls into Group 2 here and the outburst was directed towards members of Group 1.
I've felt very much the same way myself and found myself saying things like "fuck newt lovers" when what I actually should be doing is explaining the above and advocating for members of Group 1 to join Group 2.
Starmer knows that the right wing is going to accuse him of being too cosy with climate protesters, so he’s desperate to appear tough on “tree huggers”. I doubt these anonymously attributed comments are real.