Corbyn Slams Tories On Flooding — Calls For Trident Cash To Spent On Halting Climate Change

Breaking his Christmas holiday in Malta Jeremy Corbyn returned to British soil this evening to blast the Conservative government on the ongoing national flooding crisis, calling it a “humanitarian disaster”.

Visibly moved by pictures of flooding across the United Kingdom, Corbyn spoke directly to the assembled media at London Stansted airport. “This flooding crisis is not a natural event, or a so-called ‘act of God’”, Corbyn said, “The causes of this flooding crisis have names and addresses. That is what is most sad about this situation. It was totally preventable”.

Clearly refreshed from his break and looking lightly tanned, Corbyn continued:

The immediate cause of these floods is the last five years of under investment in the regions by the Conservative government and the decades of failed neoliberal policies that they continued. The alleged localism of the Tories masks an ideological agenda of austerity. We all know what is really going on here is the transfer of public wealth into the hands of their friends in the private sector. The direct result of George Osborne is people sandbagging their houses when they should be settling down for a Christmas dinner. These “unprecedented” floods happened last year when the prime-minister was ready to put on his wellies and go for a walk about. Did he forget to do anything in a whole year?

The longer term cause is the ongoing and grave climate crisis. We should not forget those at the sharp end of the crisis in the so-called second and third world. But the effects of climate change are on our shores and in our homes. Here too the Conservatives and their out-dated Thatcherite orthodoxy should be the only endangered species. Free markets and unbridled capitalism will never deliver the ceiling of 1.5 degree climate change agreed in COP21 in Paris this month. We desperately needed to begin to address catastrophic climate change now. The Tories are a party of climate change deniers, cranks and buccaneering corporations who would rather seek a quick buck than the continuation of human civilisation on earth.

Pressed on his view of the government, Corbyn said:

It is quite simple. When it comes to the immediate problem of flood defences or their causes in climate change, the Tory party and their private interest free-market backers have no solution.

Only the Labour party, committed to a no carbon, green, low work and high prosperity society — aligned and with the help of movements for global change around the world — are capable of meeting this challenge head on.

Directly addressing policy, Corbyn demanded that David Cameron unlock public funds for flood relief and climate change mitigation.

I have written to David Cameron today to ask him to commit immediately to locking all proceeds of the sale of Royal Mail to the private sector and any privatisation strategies undertaken in 2015 to immediate relief for those affected by flooding and to build flood defences to prevent such tragedies in future.

I also want him to recall parliament to immediately reconsider all cuts to council funding and the provisions for budget setting.

Instead of wasting money on Trident — a Cold War defence built for the largely imagined threats of previous era —we should tackle the real challenges of today’s world. The £100 billion that would be wasted on the renewal of Trident should go into a fund to allow British businesses to transition to zero or negative carbon profiles far in advance of the next round of climate change talks. British innovation must lead the world in reducing climate change for the sake of the planet and its people.

I have agreed that former Labour Leader Ed Miliband will be appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Zero Carbon, to work alongside Kerry McCarthy, my Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, to draw up plans for all areas of the British state to become zero carbon or less in the shortest possible timescale after my election.

Finally, insurance companies must pay out. No ifs, no buts. Any increase in premiums or problems for insurance companies in doing so must be carried by a levy on the most polluting industries.

Corbyn pledged immediately to tour the UK to assess the damage and liaise with Labour councils on the ground. Sources close to the moderate wing of the Labour party fear Corbyn may be planning to tell Labour councils to set illegal budgets regarding flood defence. It is believed this tactic is intended to force the minster for Communities and Government, Greg Clark, and his office to directly set local government budgets despite the floods. It is feared this might open the government to legal challenges and class action suits for loss of property and earnings.

Meanwhile, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell led efforts by the Labour-linked Momentum group to immediately aid those in need. “These people just need a helping hand”, said McDonnell, assisting volunteer teams building defences and providing those who lost homes with food and warm clothing, “They certainly can’t expect one from this government”.

Blue Sky Labour is dedicated to constructive criticism of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party via counter-factuals, short-term speculative fictions and realistic utopias.