• SIR Keir Starmer’s contribution to the “Save our Planet” discussion contains another message, it tells us why Labour will not be successful in the next general election.

Why do I say this? Perhaps, not unsurprisingly given our MP’s legal background, he thinks we can legislate our way out of an impending environmental catastrophe by passing all kinds of laws and regulations. “Ban this, make that illegal, etc, etc.”

As he is a driver he will no doubt be aware, as any other road user is in Camden, that the law is flouted every minute of the day on our borough’s roads.

This list of infringements is long. Who adheres to the 20mph limit? What happens to cyclists who routinely pedal though red traffic lights? What happens to the riders of electric scooters, which are illegal on both road and pavements?

What happens to the Uber drivers who stop anywhere without notice and “cut you up” without a seconds thought? Nothing!

It is this kind of “top-down” mindset that sees renationalisation of public utilities and the railways as the way in which we can revitalise what has become the “rust belt” sector of our economy.

It’s time he and the rest of the Labour leadership woke up to the fact that what is needed is a very different kind of mindset, one in which people are encouraged to think, “wouldn’t it be better if I did X rather than Y” instead of “I know I should do X and not Y but as long as I can get away with Y I will continue to do it”.

It’s the old story of the carrot rather than the stick, but writ large. How about a council tax discount if you upgrade your house / flat’s energy performance or switch to a renewable-only electricity supplier?

How about recycling some of the £20million Camden makes each year in parking fines into electric charging points where all the old ticket machines used to be for pay-&-display parking bays?

How about using what is left over to subsidise much-needed local bus routes which are in the process of being cut to the bone, for example, the C22?

How about a reduction for council tenants in their rent if they replace their gas oven with an electric one (powered by a supply from renewable sources, of course)?

How about telling council officers who say it can’t be done, “…either you find a way or you will find yourself taking early retirement”?

This is the way forwards, locally and nationally, and the message to the Labour leadership is that to fail to appreciate the way people think today is a guarantee that you will for ever be relegated to the sidelines of political power.

To borrow a slogan from elsewhere “Think National, Act Local.”

PETER LYONS
Hartland Road, NW1