Woman climbs on Tory bus with ‘Climate Power not Paddy Power’ banner
Tories faced fresh embarrassment today after a woman clambered on top of a campaign bus with a banner reading ‘Climate Power Not Paddy Power’.
The demonstration, referencing the betting scandal which has plunged Rishi Sunak’s campaign into crisis, happened in Nottinghamshire. Home Secretary James Cleverly had been due to attend an event on the election trail when the drama happened.
Greenpeace campaigner Amy Rugg-Easey was pictured holding the banner aloft on top of the Tory battle bus. She said: “We’ve had enough of this government lurching from one scandal to the next, while gambling with our future. We need clean power, not Paddy Power.
“Fourteen years of Conservative governments has left this country broken. Sunak has gone backwards on climate action, ditching key pledges and promising to ‘max out’ the climate-wrecking oil and gas that are the cause of the cost of living crisis and our unaffordable bills. Our rivers are awash with sewage, and our economy, NHS and public services are on their knees.
“Enough is enough. We’ve climbed onto Sunak’s battle bus today to remind the British public that it is the Conservative government’s consistent failure to deliver greener, fairer policies that has created the mess we’re in. Don’t back the wrong horse – a vote for the climate is a vote for a better future.”
Asked why she had done it, she told Sky News: “We deserve better than this. On climate and nature the Conservatives are the worst of all the parties… What have they been doing?”
And a fellow green campaigner said: “We’re just making the point that if you want to vote on the climate in mind, if you want to vote for all the benefits the climate brings to the economy and public services, then you vote for different parties.”
He said that the quality of debate around environmental issues during the campaign had been “poor and weak” with “so many lies”. He went on: “We think it’s legitimate.” On Monday The Mirror reported that Greenpeace and Friends of The Earth had shredded Tory commitments on the environment. In a comparison of manifesto pledges the groups said Labour’s plans are four times better.
But they urged Keir Starmer to be “bolder” and pointed out that the Green Party and the Lib Dems had gone even further in their green pledges. Greenpeace lashed out at Mr Sunak’s manifesto, saying the PM has tried to make climate and nature a “wedge issue”. It said the Tories have committed to licence new fossil fuels on an annual basis, ban measures to clean up toxic air, and spark a bonfire of ‘red tape’.
