9 November 2018
UPDATE: PM fails to show at Maidenhead Brexit public meeting with Femi Oluwole and Green MEP [Theresa May’s office replies]
Theresa May chose not to answer questions from her constituents in Maidenhead on Thursday night [1 November] at a ‘Brexit: Listening’ meeting at St Piran’s school.
The Maidenhead MP was invited to attend the meeting by Green MEP Keith Taylor who spoke alongside Femi Oluwole from the campaign group Our Future Our Choice. The event was the penultimate in week-long series of events hosted by the senior Green politician.
Oxford-Cambridge expressway would be illegal, warn cross-party MEPs
Government plans to build an Oxford-Cambridge motorway over some of the UK’s most biodiverse nature reserves break EU laws and should be put on hold, according to Keith Taylor MEP and a cross-party group of European Parliamentarians.
Mr Taylor, who recently launched ‘Outmoded: a call for sustainable mobility in the 21st century’, a new publication advocating for sustainable mobility across the South East, added:
“Prioritising accessible and affordable public transport, cycling and pedestrian infrastructure should be a no-brainer: it reduces air pollution and the climate impact of transport by taking polluting cars off our roads, and encourages behaviours that could save our health service billions of pounds every year.”
“Despite this, the budget confirms, government roadbuilding handouts continue to outstrip investment in affordable and accessible active and public transport.”
“I will continue to stand with campaigners to oppose the Oxford Expressway. I will also stand with residents calling for the electrification of the parallel East-West rail route to be prioritised.”
‘British people support renewables, not fracking—why won’t the government listen to the will of the people?’ Keith Taylor MEP
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has today the latest results of its public attitudes survey which reveals that just three in 20 UK citizens support shale gas exploration while those that know a lot the fracking process overwhelmingly oppose it.
At the same time, the survey reveals that 83% and 76% of the British public support Solar and Onshore Wind energy projects, despite government policies kneecapping the renewables industry.
Responding to the survey, Keith Taylor, Green MEP for the South East, said:
“It is dumbfounding that we have a government so ideologically committed to hastening the climate breakdown by forcing destructive fracking on communities across the country, despite the lack of public support for the industry.”
Why are people across the South East backing a People’s Vote?
Most UK citizens would vote to stay in the EU if they were given a People’s Vote on the final terms of any Brexit deal, according to a major new poll from Channel 4 and Survation.
The research, published on Monday, revealed that 54% of people said they would vote to Remain in the EU if the vote was held tomorrow – when those who refused to vote or answered “don’t know” were removed.
Survation interviewed 20,000 people online across the UK from 20 October to 2 November in the biggest ever independent Brexit opinion poll.
Last week, Green MEP for the South East Keith Taylor visited towns and cities across the region and experienced first-hand the growing support for a People’s Vote.
Read on: https://www.keithtaylormep.org.uk/news/why-are-people-across-south-east-backing-peoples-vote
Greens pushing for Live Animal Transport ban in European Parliament
The Green Party’s animal rights spokesperson Keith Taylor MEP today [Thursday 8 November] raised objections to the inhumane live animal exports industry across Europe.
The senior Green politician opinion was presented on behalf of the Greens/EFA group in the Environment Committee regarding its report on the implementation of EU-wide live animal transport regulations. Mr Taylor is also responsible for drafting the Transport Committee’s report on this issue.
Mr Taylor published a report earlier this year looking at the Brexit impacts on live animal transport in the UK and has consistently called for an outright ban on the trade domestically. He said:
“I agree with the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe, amongst many others, who believe that animals should be should be born, fattened and slaughtered in the same region instead of being transported over long distances.
“We need desperately to move towards a more regional and sustainable model of livestock production, encouraging the development of local production and consumption. I’m calling on the Commission to make this move, and one of the ways to do this through ensuring the continuation of regional slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, including mobile slaughterhouses.”
Read on: https://www.keithtaylormep.org.uk/news/greens-pushing-live-animal-transport-ban-european-parliament
[VIDEO] ‘Unpleasant scenes captured at Tinker Lane raise yet more questions about the policing of fracking,’ Keith Taylor MEP
Green MEP Keith Taylor, who has consistently pushed for a review of the guidance handed to police forces for overseeing fracking protests, has ramped up pressure on the National Police Chief’s Council to start a long-promised consultation on the rules as new footage emerges appearing to show officers in Nottinghamshire using unnecessary force against protesters at the Tinker Lane fracking site.