Why has the right lost its values and moral compass? - Yorkshire Post Letters
From: Geoff Petty, Orchard Terrace, Totnes.
Ex-Tory Prime Minister John Major was on Newsnight recently, dismayed with current Conservative policy. Why has our right wing lost its values and moral compass? They used to believe in patriotically protecting our country, families and way of life, and had pride in being guided by the force of reason and common sense.
Major was angry, "The first role of any government is to leave something better for the next generation, than your generation inherited. This is not done now.” He warned: “All they are doing is saying to my children and your children and their grandchildren, tough luck chaps, we're not only leaving you a difficult economy with too many old people that you can't afford to care for, we are going to leave you with climate change that we should have put right for you and didn't'.
Why is he worried? Reports by Actuaries (experts on risk and insurance) warn of climate breakdown causing catastrophic impacts on societies and economies worldwide, with major disruption to water and food systems, migration, and human health.
A leak from a hushed up National Security Assessment by MI5 and military experts warned that climate change, habitat loss and geopolitical instability were undermining Britain’s food security to such a degree that it could be “at strategic risk of catastrophic failure” by 2030. That’s in three and a half years.
Exaggeration? No. Take a look at the National Emergency Briefing film, or its website where short videos of experts give warnings and positive messages for the future.
Tackling the climate and nature crisis is not a tribal left/right issue. 80 per cent of the population want concerted action, including most right-wing voters. It’s much cheaper to deal with climate breakdown than to back-peddle and so suffer its ravages. Green industries employ more and are growing faster than fossil fuel industries. The future is green. Why is the right blindsided and evading its duty?
They must rise to this challenge, or fade into ignominy.