2 February 2018
Proposal to let Government overrule local democracy on fracking ‘frightening’, says Green MEP
Responding to the news that the Communities and Local Government Select Committee is seeking submissions on whether planning applications for fracking in England should be decided by a government minister, rather than local councils, Keith Taylor MEP, Vice President of the Local Government Association, said:
“The mere suggestion that the pursuit of environmentally-destructive fracking should be an excuse for Government Ministers to ride roughshod over local residents and their representatives is frighteningly anti-democratic. It’s shameful enough that the Tories, in a bid to fast-track, fracking have already done this in places such as Lancashire. The Government is making a total sham of any pretence of localism.”
Green MEP responds to ‘humiliating’ leaked Brexit impact study
Responding to the leaked Government Brexit impact study, Keith Taylor, Green MEP for the South East, said:
“So the Brexit impact studies, about the existence of which the Brexit Secretary David Davis has repeatedly and knowingly lied, have leaked and it has become patently clear why the Government never intended to share the findings with the public – they are humiliating.”
“The Government has finally confirmed that every independent expert was right, despite Ministers trying to rubbish their findings. Under every possible post-Brexit scenario, the Government has calculated that the UK will be worse off, in the long and short-term. The most-damaging revelation for the swivel-eyed Brextremists in Theresa May’s divided cabinet is that the ‘no deal’ Brexit the Tories are blindly driving Britain towards is the most economically ruinous of all.”
Greens slam lack air pollution failures as Michael Gove is due before European Commission
Keith Taylor, Green Party MEP for the South East, has slammed the Government’s ‘dereliction’ of duty as Michael Gove is due before the European Commission on Tuesday 30 January after being summoned over the UK’s repeated air pollution failures.
The UK is one of nine EU member states to have been summoned by the Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella for talks over their failures to comply with EU NO2 pollution limits.
Keith, a vocal air quality campaigner and a member of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee, said:
“The EU has been forced to step up its action against a Tory Government that has been exposed, yet again, as failing in its duty to take even the most basic action to protect British citizens and combat an air pollution crisis linked to the needless deaths of more than 50,000 people every year.”
Green MEP and Animals Spokesperson: Car industry animal fume testing cannot be condemned strongly enough
Responding to the news that the firms behind Dieselgate have been allegedly forcing human and primate subjects to inhale toxic diesel fumes, Keith Taylor MEP, a member of the European Parliament’s Environment and Public Health and Transport Committees and the Green Party’s Animals Spokesperson, said:
“Just when you thought the car industry couldn’t be any more reprehensible when it comes to toxic air pollution, we have today’s revelations. That primates and humans have allegedly been forced to inhale the diesel fumes several scientific studies have already proven to be toxic is beyond belief, not to say extremely cruel and unnecessary.”
“At a time when manufacturers should have been investigating cleaner vehicle technology, they appear to have been, instead, inflicting their toxic vehicles on unwitting primates in an inhumane series of clandestine animal tests. These tests cannot be condemned strongly enough, action must be taken swiftly and sharply against firms that have shown repeated and blatant disregard for both the health and sanctity of life of humans and animals alike.”