Responding to the Prime Minister’s announcement, Jamie Livingstone, Head of Oxfam Scotland, said: “It beggars belief that the Prime Minister seems intent on rowing back on key climate commitments, just at the point when we should be speeding up, not slowing down climate action.
“In stark climate contrast, the First Minister has this week rightly talked about the need for greater urgency and action. However, history will judge our leaders by what they do, not what they say, and neither the Scottish or UK Government is investing at the scale and speed needed to slash emissions.
“Oxfam’s research shows that common sense taxes on the UK’s biggest and richest polluters last year alone could have raised up to £23 billion, whilst protecting ordinary people’s pockets. The money is there, the ideas are there; what’s missing is the political courage to bring them together to deliver fast and fair climate action.
“The climate crisis cannot be wished away; the choices our leaders make today will directly impact on the number of lives the climate emergency claims. It’s that simple.”
/ENDS
For more information and interviews, please contact: Rebecca Lozza, Oxfam Media and Communications Adviser, Scotland and Wales: rlozza1@oxfam.org.uk / 07917738450