How York Central development can lead the politics of change over climate action – Rachael Maskell

Cop27 will be their reckoning. Right now, the global South is paying for the exploits of the global North, and this generation is paying for centuries of colonialism, industrialisation and exploitation, as people and planet were exploited, minerals, crops and humanity were exploited, and carbon and hope were burnt.

In this generation, it is our duty to restore. We have no choice.

The economist Kate Raworth’s work 
on doughnut economics shows us a path out.

York Central development, at the 
heart of my constituency, could be the first doughnut development, where we see the planned luxury apartments becoming sustainable housing that 
meets need.

We could see that site being car free, wellbeing communities being built and a carbon negative future with our green new deal.

York is seeking to lead. Our green 
new deal, BioYorkshire, will create 
4,000 green-collar jobs and upskill 25,000 people as it takes 2.8 million tonnes of carbon out of our atmosphere and repurposes 1.2 million tonnes of landfill.

With research and development of new precision-farming agricultural practices, it is the point where international development will meet international trade.

While partners from the University of York, Askham Bryan College and Fera Science have reached out into the region, it is my hope that this green new deal will reach out across the globe, such is the power of its science.

It is this project that will put pride 
back into my community – one that to this very day celebrates the Rowntree legacy of integrating good business 
with good employment and social practices.

In parallel, York has developed the good business charter.

I hope that Ministers are aware 
of the charter, supported by the CBI 
and TUC, as it sets out 10 principles, including a real living wage, employee wellbeing, environmental responsibility and ethical sourcing, resetting the 
terms for business, the economy and workers.

Different parts of the economy 
should not be able to choose 
whether or not they opt into those initiatives. We need a comprehensive refocus.

Labour in Wales was the first in the world to introduce a Wellbeing Act – the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 – and the rest of the UK must now follow.

Instead, this Government’s mantra seems to be “always need to take, not restore”, and that must be reversed.

Just imagine if those principles had been embedded in our approach to the Covid-19 vaccine.

We would not be debating Omicron today.

Given that the West has hoarded 
and destroyed global vaccine supplies – and taken at least three vaccines 
for each of us– the vaccine rate in developing countries is just three per cent.

For the sake of profit for big pharma, this Government are prepared to sacrifice the global South.

However, in this interconnected world, we, too, will fall prey to a virus that does not play by the rules.

That is why we need to change the rules that govern us.

It may not be Omicron that calls us short – it may be the pyro or sigma variants.

This is about moving from a mindset of economic nationalism to one of responsible internationalism.

The Government was sent to Glasgow to keep the idea of 1.5 degrees alive, but it is now in critical care.

Everything must be injected into rehabilitating our economy. The cost of not doing so will be fatal.

Rachael Maskell is Labour MP for York Central. She spoke in a Parliamentary debate on climate goals – this is an edited version.

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