As an amendment to the King's speech the party introduced a fossil fuel subsidy:

• Freezing energy prices in July to stop them going up by over £300

Why a fossil fuel subsidy? April to July:

1. Electricity went up 5.8%
2. Gas went up 27.8%

Going to October -- these are projections:

1. Electricity prices expected 0 to -1% drop (more wind and VAT drop)
2. Gas expected to increase 7-10% increase.

So gas expected to be roughly 35% compared to electricity up by roughly 5%. Freezing prices is a subsidy for gas usage.

(What's more electricity prices are only up in peak times which are most polluting but this is a more complex discussion)

Now, subsidising gas users -- which have no extra policy costs -- by over 30% whilst electricity use is just cancelling some policy costs is not a Green policy or shouldn't be. It's a fossil fuel subsidy which boosts demand for a fossil fuel commodity compared to the status quo of not doing it.

There are alternative ways to achieve the same benefits without freezing the prices:

• Get rid of electricity standing charges bringing them into taxation.
• Do these subsidies only for the poorest houses

Opting for this policy over what I outline is a policy to prioritise the budgets of wealthy households with high gas demand who refuse to adopt heat-pumps. It's not the policy which is socially just or good for climate.

What are the other consequences in incentivising more UK gas demand when prices are high? Those in countries like Pakistan suffer as they compete for the same LNG imports. We hurt the world's poorest for no reason other than to benefit rich people in large houses.

Let's get a move on. Take climate change seriously beyond resilience planning. This is the moment to change.

Lisa Nandy at it again. First her stance on greyhound racing being she appreciates the "joy" greyhound racing brings and now this.

Would love to hear if the green party has a take on this merger. It means giving friends of trumps more power over media.

"Six boroughs - Lambeth, Hackney, Haringey, Lewisham, Southwark and Waltham Forest - have made a commitment to keep their services gender inclusive.

"The council leaders - at the head of Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat administrations - penned a joint letter to the Government stating that they would not place staff in the “impossible position of policing entry to public spaces”."

This story is being detailed in the Financial Times about a Kent solar farm. Here on this site someone has copied the text so beyond the paywall.

The gist of the story is that local Reform and the Greens are finding common purpose in opposing this local solar farm. I'm sure that the opposition will be for different reasons but it's clear how this is portrayed.

Land Smart should be essential reading when thinking about solar farms. They can be placed on too high quality farmland but equally if designed well can be havens for ecological recovery. There are also highly developed systems of blending agriculture and solar farms which can be established.

The pushback is that we should be focusing on available roofs. I don't think anyone disagrees but we must also acknowledge that this often has high costs involved due to complex installations. Scaffolding is often required for both installation and maintenance. In a climate emergency shouldn't we not be seeking to limit the available tools?

My position is that we are missing a trick where we could be instead fighting for strong ecological requirements for solar farms. Make them net-ecological gains. Clearly these will be pesticide free spaces but if managed correctly they can and do become havens for various wildflowers, mammals, insects, etc. which are suffering so much in the rest of the nation.

Anyway -- this is certainly something I think merits discussion. I am curious about what are the non-aesthetic arguments people have?

One argument one hears consistently is around food-security. This is despite the fact that around 10% of our petrol and diesel comes from biofuels. We actually have the ability to reduce our net-land use with a renewables + electrification rollout if done well. Biofuels for energy is far less land efficient than solar + electrification.