AT the heart of the COP26 programme is a meeting of minds to tackle one of the worlds most pressing issues – climate change and the devastating impact it will continue to have on our environment unless immediate and sustained action is taken.
Greta Thunberg, international climate activist and campaigner who was in Glasgow this week, is right to adopt the slogan of no more blah blah blah in her hopes that politicians from across the globe will agree on a way forward to tackle what is often referred to as the greatest existential threat to the world.
What we need is decisive action and I’m hopeful that solutions will be found at COP26.
Let’s be honest, too often politicians feel the need to win every argument and debate, and sadly that is the nature of the political sphere in which UK politics operates. But if elected officials could all commit to more attentive listening, understanding others’ perspective, and collaborating in good faith, then tangible progress and a better form of politics could emerge on the key issues.
The key themes from COP26 major on collaboration, negotiation, concession, and compromise. Amidst a global climate crisis, it’s disappointing that the maturity of political debate, and the partisan nature of the political climate in the UK persists. This approach will undermine efforts to create the sort of change we want to see.
A few months ago, when Nicola Sturgeon announced that the Scottish Green Party would be entering government for the first time, she spoke about working together, reaching compromise, and ultimately achieving a better way of doing of politics. Sadly, this ambition hasn’t (yet) manifested.
This week, Greenpeace has been critical of the Scottish Government, alleging that the SNP and the Greens have been guilty of deferring to Boris Johnson over the Cambo oil field issue. Green MSP Ross Greer responded by saying Greenpeace don’t understand Scotland. Talk about doing your master’s bidding! This is clearly a COP out by the Scottish Green Party.
Ultimately, the collective political debate and endeavour isn’t delivering the kind of consensus and change that we all want and yet the framework for achieving a more cohesive, consensus-building approach within the UK political sphere already exists. It isn’t a failure of apparatus; it’s a failure of people to make progress the priority.
Irrespective of any division and disagreement between the UK and Scottish Government, the fact of the matter is that both governments exist to improve and enhance the lives of constituents across the British Isles and for too long division has been supported and sustained.
People deserve better from their politicians. Independence, and its merits, or indeed Brexit, and its consequences and opportunities, are both big questions but a failure to agree on them shouldn’t stop consensus and progress in other key areas.
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the first duty of any government is to ensure that the people of their country are looked after. This should provide the basis of a more inclusive and consensus seeking politics, with lessons learned from COP26.
The UK and Scottish Government need to make it about people, and with that in common, this should be sufficient to create the incentive to do politics in a more progressive and positive way where people are genuinely prioritised above political point scoring.
Across its two-week period, COP26 will hopefully ensure that ambitious strides are taken to meet the global climate challenge. People across the UK will be watching as complex issues are unpicked and solutions found. When the curtain comes down in Glasgow, perhaps the scene will be set for a new type of politics to come to the fore.
But what we need is purpose, innovation, and enterprise to move beyond the political impasse to create the type of economy that will make sustainable progress possible on all of the key issues, from social care, to housing, heath and education.
Barrie Cunning is managing director of Pentland Communications and a former Scottish Labour Parliamentary candidate. Our columns are a platform for writers to express their opinions. They do not necessarily represent the views of The Herald.
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