Tag Archives: friends of the earth

Red faces on domestic flights issue

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Stunned Labour councillors seemed unaware on Monday night of the information revealed by the Liberal Democrats about Haringey Council’s use of domestic flights. Gasps from the public gallery greeted Liberal Democrat Cllr Ed Butcher’s revelations that, despite a promise to not use domestic flights for council business, 17,038 miles were travelled on flights within the UK in the past two years.

At last night’s Full Council meeting councillors debated a motion to agree to support the Friends of the Earth campaign to reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2020. Liberal Democrats highlighted Labour’s failure on the environment and tackling climate change – the broken promise on domestic flights was given as an example of this failure.

Liberal Democrats have now demanded details of when the flights were taken, who travelled, the destination and the cost to the taxpayer.

Cllr Ed Butcher (Stroud Green) comments:

“It was red faces all round in the Labour Group. Embarrassed Labour councillors seemed unaware that their own policy had been broken and this is an example of their lack of grip on this council’s administration.

”The serious issue is that, once again, Labour has said that they will stop the use of domestic flights for council business yet they have broken their promise.”

Lynne Featherstone MP adds:

“Local residents will not be able to believe a word Haringey Labour says about the environment. Their green credentials are now dead in the water.”

Exposed: Haringey Labour breaks domestic flights promise

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Information revealed by local Liberal Democrats shows that Labour have broken a key pledge to stop Haringey Council using domestic flights for council business. A document sent to the Government tallying Haringey’s C02 emissions shows that 17,038 miles were travelled on domestic flights in the past two years.

The news comes as  Haringey Council announced its support of the Friends of the Earth campaign to reduce C02 emissions by 40% by 2020. Liberal Democrats have accused Labour of hypocrisy and failing to keep to a key pledge on reducing C02 emissions.

The document sent to the Department for the Environment and Climate Change shows that 17,038 miles were travelled to UK destinations, 18,992 on short haul flights and 71,028 miles for long haul air travel.

Cllr Bob Hare, Liberal Democrat Green Spokesperson, comments:

“This news is very concerning for Haringey’s fight against climate change. Unless we are fully committed to doing all we can to reduce C02 emissions we will fail in our task.

“Local residents will feel let down by a Labour Council that promised to take action to reduce carbon emissions but has fallen at the first hurdle.”

Lynne Featherstone MP adds:

“This shocking admission by Haringey Council shows that Labour cannot be trusted on their green pledges – they simply say one thing but do another.”