Lib Dems end climate talks with Tories

The BBC says:

"The Lib Dems are pulling out of a deal to work jointly with the Conservatives on the issue of climate change. Sir Menzies Campbell said co-operation required "urgent agreement on specific measures" but claimed the Tories were not able to provide that agreement."

This comes as no surprise and is absolutely the right move. Cameron's whole green issue thing is, so far, a complete sham. His "shoe chauffeur" driving behind his bike and his grossly carbon positive trip to Norway are emblems of that sham. But there is more concrete evidence.

As I highlighted at the time, when asked to state his carbon emission reduction targets he said they would take time to set and then hypocritically attacked others for not having targets! Breathtaking hypocrisy. The Conservatives have had 14 years since Rio to come up with targets.

When he wrote the last Tory election manifesto, just a year ago, he had ample opportunity to state targets and policy objectives in all the green areas. But his manifesto was more notable for its focus on immigration. Now, he is, all of a sudden, "green Dave".

On television, Cameron was banging on about micro-generation and sticking a windmill on top of his house. Meanwhile, Conservative MPs talked out a bill which would have made specific progress on that issue. And, ITV revealed that Cameron's house was so badly insulated it was giving off heat into the atmosphere like a radiator.

Over an extended period, Conservative MPs have attacked the Liberal Democrats for advocating higher taxes on 4x4s. Now, the Liberal Democrats have proposed effective taxes on top of the range cars. But the Conservatives are nowhere with proposals on this.

The only time, since Cameron became leader, that the Conservatives have produced any policy specifics was when their economic competitiveness group came up with ten transport proposals.

One of these was to allow vehicles to turn left at traffic lights on red. Experts say that this would endanger cyclists and pedestrians, the very people Cameron pretends to encourage! One of the other proposals was to set up cycle lanes on pavements. That is another backward step which, in many cases, would discourage both cyclists and pedestrians.

I am sure there are more examples of Tory hypocrisy on the environment - can you think of any?

The Conservatives have often attacked Labour for being "all spin and no substance". That is an amazingly hypocritical thing to say, given that we now have the "King of Spin", ex-Public relations man for Carlton TV, David Cameron, doing the most almighty con trick on all issues, not least on the environment.

So, thank goodness for common sense and well done Ming for pulling out of these talks.