What young people need to hear from the next prime minister

If they wanted to, Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak could change the world for the better on countless fronts, write Scarlett Westbrook

Looking at the climate credentials of both candidates makes for rather dismal reading (AFP/Getty)

Just a few weeks ago, the UK was hit with record high temperatures that experts had not projected for us to reach until 2050. Yet, despite this, we’ve seen nothing but record low levels of ambition from Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak when it comes to climate action

We’re nearly a month into the leadership content, and yet climate policy has barely featured, getting only two minutes of airtime in the TV debate. Instead, the speeches of both remaining candidates have been littered with talk of tax breaks for the very people destroying our planet and “culture war” discussions straight out of a sixth-form politics class.

Looking at the climate credentials of both candidates makes for rather dismal reading, and their lack of tangible climate commitments somehow manages to make this even worse.

Let’s start with Liz Truss, the former commercial manager of leading polluter Shell. Despite serving as environment minister for two years, her sparse climate legacy thus far is centred on unequivocal support for the Heathrow expansion, a weird hatred of solar panels and a commitment to not ban fracking.

She has met with groups identified by Greenpeace as disputing the science behind climate change, such as the Cato Institute and Heritage Foundation.

Likewise, Rishi Sunak’s climate record also doesn’t make for pleasant reading. Despite his former position as chancellor, where he had the agency to transform the face of climate policy for the better and save lives, Sunak’s record on climate can be whittled down to nothing more than virtue signalling.

From scrapping the green homes grant and giving tax breaks to oil and gas companies, all while telling Cop26 delegates he will turn the UK into the “world’s first net zero financial centre”, it’s evident that Sunak’s money is not where his mouth is when it comes to climate action.

Given this, it’s clear that the less than 1 per cent of the population who will be eligible to vote for 100 per cent of the country’s prime minister don’t seem to have great options. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

We’ve still got nearly a month to go until this leadership contest is decided, and a whole premiership ahead of that for meaningful change to be enacted. While I have more trust in pigs flying before that happens, it needs to be remembered that there are a total of zero unselfish reasons for this not to be the case. If they wanted to, Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak could change the world for the better on countless fronts in the role of prime minister.

Truss and Sunak could choose to follow the leads of Luxembourg, Spain and Germany, who have implemented free or extremely cheap nationwide public transport for at least a few months, lowering total carbon emissions and tackling the cost of living. They could incentivise electric cars, insulate homes to make them more energy-efficient, invest in local agriculture to combat food deserts, create new climate jobs and apprenticeships, rapidly decarbonise the economy and educate the young people who will inherit it on climate justice with an education system that prepares us for the future.

To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment, sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by clicking here

There’s nothing stopping them from removing the underwriting on fossil fuel companies and ending oil and gas expansion. It is both economically and politically feasible – as are hundreds of transformative climate solutions that are already in existence and just waiting to be implemented. It’s just up to them to choose people over profit, and stop playing with our lives in favour of helping their fossil fuel executive friends.

Young people from every political home have been calling out for climate action for years, and we’re not alone. We’re joined by the UN, the IPCC, leading experts from every profession and the majority of voters, and if Truss and Sunak want a premiership that lasts more than two years they’re going to need to listen to these calls.

The climate strikers like me who spent our schooldays trying to fight for climate action are now old enough to vote, joining the millions of voters already putting climate first on their ballot. In this election, the candidates’ decisions concerning the sustainability of the planet will govern the sustainability of their role as prime minister. The electorate won’t buy any more gesturing without meaningful action.

The demand for climate action isn’t going anywhere, and it’s time for a prime minister who will stand up for people rather than polluters.