June 23rd is a ‘Climate Referendum’ - Caroline Lucas MP

13 June 2016

- Caroline joins forces with John Ashton to make the ‘climate case’ for staying in.

- The Green Party launches ‘climate referendum’ video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzsCKgHssfA&feature=youtu.be

Caroline Lucas has joined forces with ex-diplomat and climate expert John Ashton in calling for people to vote remain on June 23rd to ‘win the climate struggle’.

Ashton was the Special Representative for Climate Change at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 2006 – 2012, having worked in the diplomatic service since 1978.

The pair made their intervention as the Green Party launches an online campaign aiming to convince those who are about the environment to vote ‘remain’ on June 23rd.

Caroline, who is the first ever Green Party MP elected in Britain and a board member of Britain Stronger In Europe & Another Europe is Possible, said:

She said:

“June 23rd is a climate referendum. Leaving the EU could wreck our chances of playing a part in the fight against this existential threat – and hand the country to people who don’t even believe climate change is happening. But by staying as a member of the EU we can build on the progress already made in Paris earlier this year and continue making strides towards a fossil-free future.

“The EU is far from perfect – having been an MEP for ten years I know that all too well. But it’s the best hope we have when it comes to tackling climate change and protecting our environment.”

In a piece for The Guardian, Caroline and John Ashton said:

“Brexit would leave the field clear for those on the right who always hated the idea that by intervening in the economy for the public good we should build an energy system that is clean, efficient, decentralised and driven by the needs of households and communities, not overbearing private corporations.”

“Brexit would leave the field clear for those who want to see more fracking. Photograph: Ashley Cooper/Barcroft Images

“They would demand the repeal of the Climate Change Act, the dismantling of the Department of Energy and Climate Change, a new dash for gas with even more fracking than is currently in prospect, and the removal of any remaining measures to encourage renewables, energy efficiency and community energy. The record of the leading Brexiters, in whose image a post-referendum government would be shaped, offers no reassurance that they would resist any of this.”