The Manifestos: Labour

I switched on the radio as I was stepping into the shower yesterday to hear someone - I don't know if it was an MP or a member of the public - claim that you shouldn't vote for the Liberals because they didn't bring in a National Health Service at any point during the 18th and 19th Centuries!

I was reminded of this last night as I perused the Labour Party manifesto where at one point they seem to take credit for reducing all the pollution since the Industrial Revolution.

I was reading it since I wanted to know what they are promising when it comes to environmental issues. I know who I'm voting for on May 6th, but it struck me that some of you might not. After all, not everyone interested in environmental issues will vote Green.

So I thought I would detail all of the parties commitments when it comes to our planet. Labour get the ball rolling. I'll put their pledges in red, with my commentary in black.

First of all, they seem to be implying that there will be greater regulation over some issues than there has been up to now:

Only active government can shape markets to prioritise green growth and job creation. Environmental sustainability cannot be left to individuals and businesses acting alone.

Our aim is to create 400,000 new green jobs by 2015 – at least 40,000 in Scotland.

Internationally, we will continue to work for an ambitious, fair and legally binding climate change agreement Push for a strengthening of Europe’s 2020 emission reductions from 20 to 30 per cent by 2020

I guess that's fair enough, and I expect to see the other big parties say roughly the same.

We are planning for around 40 per cent of our electricity to come from low carbon sources by 2020 - renewables, nuclear and clean fossil fuels. In Scotland, we are planning for a round 50 per cent of our electricity to come from renewables from 2020

We have taken the decisions to enable a new generation of nuclear power stations, and a programme of four clean coal plants with carbon capture and storage technology with a levy to fund them.

Uh-oh. Four power stations with the mythical "clean coal" label attached. Using American Coal Industry buzz words does not fill me with glee. Moving on...

In stimulating the sustainable use of resources, we will move towards a ‘zero waste’ Britain, banning recyclable and biodegradable materials from landfll.

I can get behind this one. Banning recyclable materials from landfill should have been a priority years ago. Quite how it will be achieved logistically will probably give the local authorities headaches for years to come.

We will ensure that all household lofts and cavity walls are insulated, where practical, by 2015.

We will legislate to introduce ‘Pay As You Save’ financing schemes under which home energy improvements can be paid for from the savings they generate on energy bills.

In other words, an ordinary householder's number one reason for improving the energy efficiency of their home - lower bills - will be removed from them in order to pay for the insulation. This doesn't make sense to me. Why would someone choose to have increased energy bills for, say, the next five years to have their house insulated? People live for today and think of their pocket today, not in five years' time. There's no clear immediate benefit to Joe Public here.

We will introduce a new Warm Home Standard for social housing and regulate landlords so that privately rented accommodation is properly insulated.

We will continue to support the retention of Scottish Water in public hands and will oppose any attempt to privatise it by the Tories or SNP.

Laudable, but I'm not sure they should use the phrase "retention of water"!

Powers to develop local energy systems such as renewables and district heating.

We will drive the introduction of ‘recycling on the go’, with separated public bins on the street and in shopping centres.

These already exist in a small number of towns. But isn't that a local government issue?

We support greater investment in forests and woodlands to support our climate change objectives and to provide new recreational and biodiversity opportunities.

We will not privatise the Forestry Commission.

Privatising the Forestry Commission is something that the SNP has looked at.

We will campaign for an EU-wide ban on illegally logged timber and ban it domestically if this does not succeed.

Quite why the EU would not ban illegally logged timber I'm not sure, but I welcome the fact it would be banned in the UK regardless.

In order to protect farmers and food suppliers from unfair and uncompetitive practices by major retailers, we will create a Supermarket Ombudsman.

Given the furore in recent years over the power that supermarkets wield, why isn't there a Supermarket Ombudsman already? It's a great idea, but only if it has real power.

So there you have it, Labour's environmental commitments. There's only one big question bugging me.

Does the plural of 'manifesto' have an 'e' in it???