Philip Hammond won’t tackle the climate crisis. But a Green New Deal would | Molly Scott Cato

The chancellor says we can’t afford to save ourselves. Let’s leave such absurd thinking behind – and invest in green policies

• Molly Scott Cato is the Green MEP for the South West of England

I’m surprised I can still be shocked at the incompetence and shortsightedness of this government. But then along comes the chancellor, Philip Hammond, expressing his inane and irresponsible view that we can’t afford to tackle the climate crisis. He has warned that Theresa May’s distant target of 2050 to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions will cost the UK over £1tn and starve schools, police and hospitals of funds, while making the UK “economically uncompetitive”.

I’m inclined to respond: it’s not the economy, stupid. It’s the science; it’s literally a matter of life and death. This is a planetary emergency which requires us to look well beyond the business-as-usual approach of the past 100 years – and think outside of the box.

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