Labour Party members have launched a petition calling on to deliver “a people’s bailout
for workers and planet” in response to proposals from , Shadow Transport Secretary, to
save the failing airline industry.
The petition, coordinated by campaign
group Labour for a Green New Deal, criticises Labour for planning
“to fund a return to a growing aviation sector” which “would lock
us into runaway climate breakdown,” and has attracted over 400
signatures since launching this morning.
Labour has
recently called for a
support package for the aviation sector conditional on
environmental commitments, such as developing cleaner fuels and
new low-carbon technologies, and protecting jobs. McMahon
repeated this call on Tuesday evening, arguing against
plans for workers to be transitioned to greener industries at the
current time.
But the party’s grassroots are
demanding stronger measures, such as taking public stakes in
airlines, and using this leverage to wind down domestic air
routes and support workers to transition to green jobs.
New
polling has lent support
for a more interventionist approach to airline bailouts. Of those
who supported airline bailouts, 72% thought the public should
hold a share of the companies that receive financial assistance,
leaving Labour’s position an unpopular one with the
public.
Lauren Townsend, Labour for a Green
New Deal’s spokesperson, said:
"We welcome Labour's proposals to
protect jobs, and its ambitions for a huge green recovery plan as
we emerge from the coronavirus crisis. But its plans on aviation
fail to live up to that ambition, nor will they create the
secure, green jobs we urgently need. Labour is essentially
calling for the return of business-as-usual air travel, locking
us into runaway climate breakdown. These proposals are out of
touch with party members, out of touch with the public and
disastrous for the planet.”
The government recently announced
Project Birch, a plan to financially support struggling companies
deemed ‘strategically important’. Labour for a Green New Deal’s
petition demands that Labour works with trade unions to ensure
all such bailouts contain mandatory commitments to
decarbonisation and workers’ rights, and implements these
principles wherever the party is in power. In Manchester, Labour
for a Green New Deal has established an environmental coalition opposing local
councils’ decision to bail out Manchester Airport.
Townsend continued:
“The idea that a just transition must
wait until we have rebuilt the old, exploitative and
unsustainable economy is utterly nonsensical. With the Tories on
the verge of bailing out some of our biggest polluters, Labour
must take a stand for climate action and workers’ rights.”
Ends
Notes
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Since March, EasyJet, Virgin
Atlantic and IAG (owner of British Airways) have all asked
for government bailouts, with nearly £1bn already paid
out.
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The think tank
Common Wealth has laid out a plan to take struggling companies into public
ownership
-
, the shadow business
secretary,recently called for “the most ambitious climate recovery plan
in the world” post-coronavirus, on the scale of post-1945.
The party is launching a rapid consultation with businesses,
trade unions and others on
how a green recovery could happen.
-
Annelise Dodds on Monday 1
June tweeted that “The
Chancellor *must* learn, not just from these businesses but
also from the many other countries which have required
environmental objectives (and decent treatment of the
workforce, fair tax practice etc) as a condition for public
support”
