Gardiner's Manifesto for Shadow Cabinet Post

Now that Ed Miliband  has been elected leader the shadow cabinet election campaign will start in earnest. Barry Gardiner's hat was in the ring early on and he has already published his manifesto on the website Left Foot Forward LINK. He has been working assiduously in the House of Commons on environmental issues and he sets out his vision in a posting entitled 'Sustainable living: A radical manifesto for 2015' with his eye clearly on the shadow version of Ed's old job,

He argues that we have no right to diminish our children's right to fare as well as we have:

The Labour Party must rise to this challenge from generations yet to come, so that the environment we hold in trust will be transmitted to them cleaner, healthier and more resilient. The environment is not just another discreet policy issue like housing or transport. It is the context in which all our other policies are carried out.

The roads we build and the buildings we construct, the power we generate and the industries they power, all are influenced by and have an influence on our environment. For this reason a radical manifesto for 2015 must integrate environmental considerations and policies into every aspect of government decision-making...

The tension between these two imperatives – to reduce emissions whilst meeting rising demand for economic growth — presents us with one fundamental challenge: to increase carbon productivity. The amount of wealth generated per tonne of CO2 equivalent emitted has to rise.
To maintain the current average global economic growth rate of 3.1 per cent per annum and to reduce emissions to around ten gigatonnes per year, carbon productivity must increase in real terms by a factor of fifteen by 2050.
‘Sustainable living’ sets out bold and radical policies to achieve:

• The successful integration of the value of Natural Capital into UK government accounts;
• Climate change mitigation strategies to achieve UK emissions reductions of 65 per cent by 2030 and at least 90 per cent by 2050;
• Climate change adaptation strategies to protect biodiversity and enhance habitats;
• A marine recovery strategy;
• Proposals to enhance carbon sinks.

‘Sustainable living’ requires a commitment to internationalism, equality, fairness and justice. These are the values upon which the Labour Party was founded.
 Apparently Gardiner has won respect from some Labour MPs for his campaigning on the environment and it will be interesting to see whether he can bounce back from the setbacks he suffered latterly under Blair and after he called for Brown's resignation.