Another week, another soundbite in the latest Reform campaign in the run up to council elections in May. Farage claims net zero could become “the new Brexit”, “where parliament is so hopelessly out of touch with the country”. He urged the government to ditch its target of achieving net zero by 2050. The statement grabs headlines, but demonstrates how the Reform party leader has not taken into account the complexities of interrelated legislation which is tied to environmental protection.
Climate protections are seen as a rule too far, just like the shackles of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The ECHR is based on principles founded by the UK and European nations in the post world war II era. The UK was one of the states that drafted the ECHR and one of the first states to ratify it in 1951. We were therefore once in a leading position on this legislation. The right to protect ourselves against discrimination against us to use and claim any of these safeguards is enshrined into the act.
While the foundations of the ECHR pre-date the climate crisis, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has upheld claims against climate change by citizens, notably the ruling in April 2024, which deemed the Swiss government’s climate policies violated human rights.
Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz (Senior Women for Climate Protection Switzerland) and four individual women challenged the Swiss government’s inadequate climate policies, which they claimed violated their right to life and health listed under Articles 2 and 8 of the ECHR by failing to address climate change which was evidenced by heat waves exacerbated by the climate crisis.
The Swiss women cited a study indicating that deaths from heatwaves were attributable to human-induced climate change in Switzerland over a period of 50 years.
Readers may recall the many warnings in Britain issued by the MET office for excessively high temperatures.
The application listed two other complaints: the Swiss Federal Supreme Courts rejected their case on arbitrary grounds which violated the right to a fair trial under Article 6. Furthermore, the Swiss authorities and courts did not deal with the content of their complaints, in violation of the right to an effective remedy under Article 13.
The 2024 ruling developed a legal basis for breaches of human rights due to climate change setting out assessment criteria in future cases to assess a country’s policies against climate change:
- measures that indicate a specific target timeline to achieve net zero carbon emissions (or a specific reduction)
- intermediate greenhouse gas emission targets
- evidence showing compliance with these targets
- updates to targets based on best available evidence
- acting in good time.
The judgment sets a precedent for countries who uphold ECHR regulations to “put in place the relevant legislative and administrative framework designed to provide effective protection of human health and life” as part of Article 8, and to provide a means to hear climate cases under Article 6 (which protects the right to a fair trial).
The ECHR and the Brexit trade agreement
Any abandonment of ECHR principles would not only endanger the environment, but our remaining trading model with Europe. Both agreements go hand in hand. Trading partners signed up for continued adherence to ECHR rules. Violations of the ECHR would precipitate a no-deal Brexit which would cause havoc on our financial system which would dwarf Liz Truss’s economic disaster crisis, which although short, caused many people to lose their homes through hikes in mortgage rates.
Source of the policy to abandon net zero?
The public should wonder if Reform figures voice their own personal opinions or those of their financial backers and supporters. Peter Geoghegan reported that much of his funding came from a small number of very wealthy donors, including Aaron Banks and a number of business men, who have previously funded Conservatives. During one fundraising evening for 100 guests at an exclusive private members’ club in Mayfair, Oswald’s, £1mn was added to their coffers. The event was part of a wider strategy of attracting big money. In 2023, Reform raised £155,000 in donations. In 2024, the party took £4.75mn, a third of which came from people who have previously given to the Conservatives, mainly Brexiter conservatives.
Open Democracy documented the rise of an organisation called GB PAC this week, founded by Clare Bullivant, a Tory activist, and former Reform co-leader, Ben Habib which aims to unite the right before the next general election.
Lord Bamford, the owner of JCB, has donated millions to the British right and £10mn to the Brexit campaign. JCBs were lent to Farage for the Birmingham Reform event, after which it was reported Lord Bamford’s JCB could take a leading role in the national pothole repair campaign under Reform in the journal of GB PAC. GB PAC told Open Democracy that their policy director wrote the pothole plan and gave it to Farage, who refused to comment on this.
Trump mirror
In an interview with The Sun, Farage stated he would create a British Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) based on the Trump’s model by cutting excess council spending if Reform wins council elections. DOGE is led by billionaire Elon Musk and has dismantled entire US federal agencies and cut tens of thousands of jobs.
The Reform leader said he would “send in the auditors” to every council Reform wins, adding: “The whole thing has to change. We need a British DOGE for every county and every local authority in this country.”
However, the UK’s National Audit Office warned councils are facing a major funding crisis, with social care in particular putting huge strain on their budgets.
Cutting spending any further would compromise these vital services on which thousands of ordinary people depend.
The consequences of climate change, increased immigration
Feminists and environmental campaigners challenge the voice of macho corporate Trumpian hierarchies. “We don’t inherit the earth, we borrow it from our children” goes the saying.
Climate change turns many humans into refugees. If things persist, those fleeing inhospitable climates may head to Europe and the UK as immigrants. Reform forgets we inhabit one planet. This once again demonstrates that Reform policies do not consider finer details and consequences. Committed politics and legislating are processes which require attention to details, not soundbites.
Evidence of environmental damage is closer than we think. The Netherlands noted only this week that excessively dry weather poses risks to their dyke system and are devising extra measures to counteract this to avoid flooding (RTL Nieuws).
A protest vote this May in the council election or further ahead against government austerity would be better placed with the Green Party which protects not only the environment but advocates a universal base income.
Labour’s harsh neo-austerity measures have been put in place to reduce the massive debts caused by the previous conservative government and Brexit damages. Their austerity measures are not designed to create huge profits for their donors. They do not represent policies written by or ‘bought’ by donors, which would threaten the future of the NHS in its present form. Be informed about what you wish for or vote for in May and in 2029. The future of planet earth may depend on it.
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