Cameron's Conservatives back-pedalling on the Environment

Local campaigner Rosie Sharpley says, "This dossier clearly shows how the Conservatives are not green on the environment. They are just blue - as they have always been. Bus services in Woking are cut each year by Surrey's Conservative-controlled County Council and bus fares keep going up. How is this 'green' Conservative Party policy?"

When David Cameron became leader of the Conservative Party in December 2005 he said the environment would be a top priority for the party. With great fanfare, he launched a policy review, under John Gummer and Zac Goldsmith, and presented himself at high profile photo opportunities at the London Wetland Centre, cycling to work, and visiting a glacier in the Arctic Circle ('hugging a husky'), among others.

It was clear that Mr Cameron saw the environment not just as a potential vote winner, but as symbolic of his plan to modernise and rebrand the Conservative Party - to get rid of the 'nasty party' image.

The Liberal Democrats welcomed Mr Cameron's apparent 'green conversion'. We even worked with the Conservatives to try to build a cross-party consensus on climate change. But we warned that the real test would come when Mr Cameron had to move beyond photo-opportunities and rhetoric and start making difficult policy choices.

Two and a half years later Mr Cameron and his party are failing this test. This dossier sets out how they are -

BACK-PEDALLING on earlier policy suggestions

RELEGATING green issues below other priorities

FAILING to practice what they preach on the environment, personally and where they have power

A party still largely UNCONVINCED that climate change in a serious problem.

Numerous examples of Conservative back-pedalling are highlighted in a comprehensive dossier.

Here are just some examples of what others say about the Conservatives' attitude to the environment:

"The Conservative Party's approach has been strong on presentation but weak on substance. We were alarmed that David Cameron omitted climate change and environment from his statement in May on priorities for a future Conservative Government." (Statement by Green Alliance, coalition of environmental campaign groups, 13 September 2008)

"David Cameron wavers on green pledges."

"Senior strategists admit privately that [green] initiatives prepared by the Tory leader are unlikely to see the light of day." (Daily Telegraph, 2 August 2008 - the first quote was the headline)

WHAT THE PUBLIC SAY:

Which party has the best policies for tackling climate change?

Liberal Democrats 26%; Labour 22%; Conservatives 21%

(Populus Poll for The Times, published July 2008)

AND what one of the Conservatives' own MEPs says-

"I think from the point of view of the Conservative Party pursuing the green line is all talk and no action." (Caroline Jackson MEP, quoted on BBC News Online, 6 April 2006)