Press Releases for 2004
OIL PRICE HIKE: MADE IN BRITAIN
3rd June 2004British governments have had thirty years to make Britain immune to increases in oil prices. By failing to respond to the first oil crisis in 1973-74, and the subsequent ones, they have laid the basis for repeated problems in this area. Hazel Dawe, Green Party European Candidate for Kent(1) comments:
"Decades of failure in energy conservation, alternative fuels and renewable energy sources have a particular impact upon Kent today. Local residents and business are operating in a county which has never had particularly good public transport coverage. Fuel protestors need to change their tune. They should protest by voting Green on 10th June 2004 because only the Green Party has campaigned for a constructive route out of the oil crisis."
Professor John Whitelegg (2) notes: "Petrol prices don't reflect the huge hidden costs of road transport its contribution to climate change, pollution-related ill-health and so on - which amount to perhaps £15 billion a year and maybe a lot more. Petrol should cost more so that road transport pays its true costs.
"Of course fuel tax must be progressively increased, but under two conditions: firstly there must be overall tax reform that redistributes wealth downwards so that eco-taxes don't impact unfairly on poorer people; and secondly we must invest hugely in alternatives to the car so that people have proper choices in mode of transport.
"We also need to be a lot less dependent on oil so that our economy doesn't suffer the crises that oil-dependency brings every few years." ENDS c256 words
FURTHER INFORMATION: Hazel Dawe on 01233 645167 or 07960 956272. Contact address: 10 Hillbrow Road, Ashford, Kent TN23 4QH. Local website: www.eastkent-greenparty.org.uk Hazel Dawe is a Senior Lecturer in Law at London Metropolitan University.
Notes: 1.Hazel Dawe is one of 10 candidates on the Green Party list for the South East Region's European constituency. Other information on these elections can be found at www.greenparty.org.uk/southeast and on the website of the South East's Green MEP, Caroline Lucas at www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk Published and promoted by Susan Miles, on behalf of the South East Confederation of Green Parties, both at 3 Copse Cottages, Shillingford Road, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8LQ. 2. Professor John Whitelegg is top candidate for the Green Party list in the North West Region. He is Professor of Sustainable Transport at Liverpool John Moores University and Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of York.
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