The Torygraph reports this morning that David Cameron is insisting that he is not backing away from environmental concerns. Green policies, he says, "will be at the heart of everything a future Conservative government does".
I would love to believe that this is so. Unfortunately, things that parties say in opposition sometimes get forgotten in the heat of government, or even turn out to have been downright lies, as I noted yesterday in relation to Blair's promises in the 1990s about railways.
Many of us will be looking for some firm and specific commitments from the Tories:
- Will they firm up their opposition to the expansion of Heathrow airport?
- Will they definitely come out in favour of a new north-south railway line via Heathrow instead?
- Will they back the proposed road charging scheme in Manchester?
- How exactly do they propose to tackle the coming energy crisis?
The New Labour regime has proved extremely disappointing on these and similar issues, to put it mildly. If the Tories can really convince us that they will move forward boldly on these questions, even where it necessitates specific policies that are unpopular with the gutter press, then I shall view their accession to government with a good deal less despair than would otherwise be the case.
2 comments:
Don't believe the spin:
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/domestic_politics/vote+blue+go+green+er+not+yet/793552
I agree that one must always be sceptical. But I'm afraid that applies to anything Labour says, just as much to the Tories.
As things stand, the Lib Dems are easily the most believable of the main parties on environmental promises.
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