Tory peer: Why can't governments act more like Prescott?

Lifelong Tory peer John Gummer has hailed John Prescott for his work in leading in Kyoto negotiations in 1998, claiming the example he set in steering the policy within the EU set an example for this and future governments to follow.

Speaking at the Ecobuild conference yesterday, Gummer, who is chair of the Parliamentary committee on climate change, slammed the current government’s lack of leadership in the climate change debate.

In a panel debate on UK co-operation with the EU on sustainability, Gummer cited the former deputy prime minister Prescott - who is scheduled to also speak at the Ecobuild conference later today - as an example of how the UK managed to use its leverage within the EU to broker a major climate change agreement.

Gummer said: “It pains me to say it but we should thank John Prescott for his role in pushing for Kyoto within the EU, without those efforts Kyoto would not have been signed.”

Gummer’s comments come ahead of a major UN climate change summit in Paris later this year which aims to commit to new targets to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Should Labour win this May’s general election, Miliband has said Prescott will represent the UK government at the Paris summit.

Gummer added: “You can’t deal with pollution unless you do it on a European level, if we clean up our beaches and they don’t clean up theirs, then all the filth will simply float to us.

“The past is clear, we wouldn’t have cleaned ourselves up from the outside looking in.”

The panel discussion highlighted the role of the UK within the EU as key to sustainable policies being implemented across the entire economic block. However, director of policy and communications at the UK Green Building Council John Alker pointed out that the EU has its drawbacks: “Things are not perfect, implementation has been patchy and there has been some high profile failures such as the Emissions trading scheme, which have not been a good advert for the EU.”

Dr Joanne Wade, Ddrector at the Association for the Conservation of Energy, highlighted the negative impact that leaving the EU would have on UK businesses: “It’s our biggest export market, if we are trading with countries in Europe we have to comply with their rules if we are in the EU or not. How with the technologies which our businesses are developing be taken into account if we are not at the negotiating table?”