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The UK’s leading climate organisations have accused the prime minister, Andy Burnham, of “remaining silent” on the climate crisis as the country struggles to cope with its fifth heatwave of the year.
As widespread droughts and devastating wildfires grip the country, green groups have written to Burnham urging him to “show leadership” and be honest with workers and the public that the climate crisis is driving the extreme conditions they are facing.
“Without naming the cause of our rapidly changing environment, you will be unable to adequately prepare the country for the adaptations it will need to make, and the efforts needed to cut carbon emissions rapidly,” they write.
Burnham has faced growing criticism – including from within Labour – for failing to make any major statement on the climate crisis despite the fossil fuel-driven temperatures, droughts and wildfires that have hit not just the UK but countries across Europe.
Friday’s letter is signed by more than 50 groups, including Greenpeace, WWF, Green New Deal Rising, the Women’s Institute, Uplift and Friends of the Earth.
They write: “Unprecedented extreme heat is now acting as a direct brake on the UK economy – closing schools, crippling regional transport networks, and pushing an overstretched NHS to the brink. We are writing to ask why you have remained silent on the driving cause of this extreme weather: climate change, and the only viable solutions: restoring nature and rapidly achieving net zero.”
Burnham held a Cobra meeting this week to discuss the impact of the heatwave and drought, but the the letter points out that in his subsequent statement he failed to mention the climate crisis, focusing instead on disposable barbecues.
Hannah Martin, a co-director of Green New Deal Rising who coordinated the letter, said: “It’s barely believable as wildfires sweep the nation and drought sweeps across the country. If you can’t name the problem, how will the British public trust you to come up with the solution?”
Although Burnham has been silent about the climate crisis, the newly appointed foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, posted a video on social media on Thursday outlining the scale of the climate crisis, directly linking it to the extreme conditions facing the UK and warning it was a national security issue that the government must tackle for the sake of future generations.
As mayor for Greater Manchester, Burnham made several powerful statements about the climate crisis, including backing the fossil fuel treaty – a proposed international pact on phasing out coal, oil and gas – calling it a “lifeline” that all governments should join.
The climate organisations add: “We applaud these statements, and we urge you to command the same clarity of position demonstrated in your mayoral leadership, in your position now as prime minister. That means publicly recognising the scale of the crisis, naming its cause, and using your position to tackle this grave threat to our lives and livelihoods now and the lives of our children and grandchildren in the future.”
The government faces a key decision in the coming weeks over whether to give the go-ahead to more drilling in the North Sea at the Jackdaw gas field and the Rosebank oil field, seen as a litmus test of its climate policies.
Robert Palmer, the deputy director of the campaign group Uplift, stressed that Burnham needed to face the crisis and act.
“He must take urgent steps to deal with the problem, including stopping major new oil and gas drilling such as the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields. Scientists could not be clearer that more drilling will wreck our planet and perpetuate this extreme weather. The prime minister needs to look out of the window and protect the country.”
No 10 has been approached for comment.
