UK must avoid US-style climate debate, minister says

LIVERPOOL, England — The U.K. should not follow the U.S. into a “binary” debate on climate policy, a government minister warned Tuesday. 

The government will try to “build bridges” on energy policy where it finds common ground with Donald Trump’s climate-skeptical White House, Climate Minister Katie White said, speaking at the POLITICO Pub at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, while trying to avoid the risks of a polarized debate at home.

“America has stalled,” White argued, because of a debate on climate she characterized as “a binary, right-and-wrong, this is the right way, this is the wrong way, and the left is pro climate and the right hasn’t been.”

“Actually, I think that has undermined some of their progress,” she added.

The U.K. government is pursuing a rapid shift to more clean power like solar and wind, while Trump has moved to roll back some climate policies and maximize fossil fuel drilling.

White also told the event that getting an electric car could help shield voters from rising fuel costs.

There was “no relief in prices and pressures on people today,” she admitted. 

White was speaking after U.K. diesel costs hit a record high of 199.8 pence per liter Tuesday, on the back of ongoing conflict in the Middle East, according to the U.K. Fuel Finder website. 

U.K. ministers are also monitoring the risk that Donald Trump could push ahead with proposals to ban U.S. diesel exports, as prices surge at the pump and midterm elections loom. The president previously indicated he would favor the move. 

Asked whether she would recommend people shift to an EV to insulate them from rising costs, White said politicians must meet “the need of the moment” by giving people some “breathing space,” while supporting people to move to electric models in the long-term. 

“If you can do it now, then yes, by all means, it is a great investment,” she added.  “And your running costs are far lower.”