NORTH Ayrshire and Arran's general election candidates are continuing to make their pitch to local voters ahead of polling day.
We've asked candidates for the local seat to set out their views on a range of issues before voters go to the polls on Thursday, July 4.
This week, we have the views on seven candidates who responded on the environmental issues facing the constituency and the UK.
Patricia Gibson (SNP)
We are in a nature and climate crisis and strong political leadership is needed.
Under the SNP Government, Scotland has gained a reputation as a global leader on tackling climate change.
Our natural environment attracts millions of visitors and supports exports of high-quality produce. Maintaining this resource is vital to Scotland’s success.
We are already halfway to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2045, five years before the rest of the UK.
The key is policy consistency, while Westminster continually flip-flops and changes direction.
Scotland is a renewables powerhouse, with 87.9 per cent of electricity generation from low carbon sources, while Scottish ministers ensured that neither fracking nor underground coal gasification have a place in Scotland.
Our support framework delivers high quality food production, climate mitigation, adaptation, and nature restoration, planting three times more trees annually than the rest of the UK combined.
Water bills are lower in Scotland than in England, where private water companies allow huge quantities of sewage to pollute.
Our Circular Economy Bill will enable local authorities to reduce waste, emissions, and pressure on the natural environment.
The SNP Government is investing record amounts in flood prevention schemes including Millport and the Garnock Valley; £91 million this year, compared to only £12 million when we took office.
As the climate crisis worsens, we need action, yet Labour has diluted its pledge to cut green investment by a shocking 83 per cent, while the Tories roll back on green pledges.
In sharp contrast, the SNP is committed to bold climate action and leadership.
Irene Campbell (Labour)
Both the Tories and the SNP have rolled back on climate commitments.
Only the policies that Labour have set out will deliver on energy security, lower bills, more jobs and climate leadership.
Labour’s Green Prosperity Plan will unleash Scotland’s potential as a world-leader in clean energy and deliver lower bills, green jobs and energy security.
Proposals include the establishment of publicly-owned GB Energy Company based here in Scotland and the creation of over 50,000 clean power jobs by 2030.
Labour will create a National Wealth Fund delivering the most significant investment in the history of Scotland’s energy industry.
This will include incentivising job creation in energy heartlands in Scotland as well as a commitment to upgrade hundreds of thousands of cold draughty homes in Scotland. There are plans to cut household energy bills by hundreds of pounds a year.
The SNP believes that if you earn £28,500 you somehow have the broadest shoulders and you should pay more tax, but if you are an energy giant making billions in profit, you should pay less tax.
Labour’s windfall tax on the record profits of energy giants will help fund our Green Prosperity Plan which will deliver more jobs, lower bills, greater energy security and a just transition for Scotland.
Labour’s plans for a jobs bonus and port investment will make Scotland an attractive place to build supply chains - ensuring the jobs stay in Scotland and are not offshored as has happened under the Tories and the SNP.
Todd Ferguson (Conservative)
Since I was first elected in 2017 as a councillor, the subject of the environment has shot up the political agenda.
That is only going to grow as this generation worry about what state we are going to leave it in for future generations.
And that is particularly important across North Ayrshire and Arran which is home to so much stunning landscape and natural assets.
As a councillor, I have raised concerns about the burden being passed onto hard-pressed local taxpayers' when it comes to making their homes or buildings more green, without the support to do so.
I have also raised concerns about developments taking place. While I want to see investment in this area, we must listen to our communities.
I opposed plans for a solar development on Millport having listened to local people, while we also see greenfield sites being used for battery storage and our environment being altered by large windfarm developments.
Local people are seeing their landscape changed, but they are not seeing the benefits in terms of jobs and growth in the local economy.
Even when it comes to the ferry fiasco for our islands, we have not got our green credentials right by importing LNG (liquefied natural gas) from Qatar and then have it travelling up hundreds of miles from England.
This at the same time the SNP have ditched the climate targets they regularly boasted were world-leading.
As your MP, I will stand up for local interests and ensure our area is protected and the burden isn’t imposed on people living here as we look to achieve net zero.
Michael Mann (Reform UK)
Detractors say that ReformUK are not environmentally conscious.
This is untrue. Nut we are against politically driven environmental scaremongering, and against politically driven environmental policies which do more harm than good.
We are concerned about the decline in food production, where agricultural land is turned over to trees, and leased or sold for solar farms.
Also legislation requires farmers to take land out of production and discourages them from ploughing the soil or growing animals.
The decline in food production combined with rising population leads to rising prices and food shortage.
We are also decarbonising the atmosphere choking off plant life and preventing soil regeneration and water retention.
The increased use of fertiliser, flooding and lack of nutrition as well as higher energy, fertiliser and labour costs make vegetable farming uneconomic. You may wonder why the Ayrshire potato is now an endangered species.
Poorly drafted legislation and poor implementation gave us an unworkable bottle return scheme, electric vehicles without charging points consuming electricity derived from nuclear and fossil fuel resources.
The drive to win the wind farm race without any means to balance loads is in danger of putting the lights out. Net zero is an admirable goal, but the implementation amounts to net stupid.
Climate change extremism is politically driven. Reform Scotland is in the process of developing environmental and agricultural policy in collaboration with scientists and farmers.
Considered policy will balance to balance environmental and economic goals. It is time for change. It is time for Reform.
James McDaid (Socialist Labour)
The question of the environment interacts with policy issues in many areas, not least energy.
This country has never had an integrated energy policy and consequently the economy has never been able to plan energy supply or the cost of such.
This make do and mend approach is a significant reason for lack of progress on questions of CO2 emissions as well as fuel poverty.
Britain has come close to power cuts and blackouts in recent winters - without a serious change in policy these will become inevitable in coming years.
Most of the pollution in Britain is from road, airlines and shipping transport. SLP policy would involve major investment in public transport and switching freight from road to rail. Just think how positive this would be for road safety and reducing environmental pollution
Locally the council approved planning permission for a waste incinerator plant at Oldhall near Irvine.
This plant when completed will burn waste - not from Ayrshire - but mostly from very far away on a commercial basis.
This process will emit toxic waste into the atmosphere that will be a hazard to health and the environment for miles around.
I have campaigned for this plant to be abandoned and if elected will do all in my power to stop it becoming operational.
A safe, healthy environment is essential for us all. If you agree, consider voting Socialist Labour on July 4.
Cara McKee (Green)
With rising temperatures, extreme weather, and food insecurity around the world, you don’t need me to tell you that we’re in a climate emergency.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have warned that urgent action is needed “now or never”.
But if you look at what other parties are proposing it’s clear that there’s plenty of heads in the sand right now.
Only the Greens are going to take the bold and transformative action we need to tackle the climate crisis, with no new drilling for oil and gas and a shift to get 100 per cent of our energy from renewables, with proper investment into the transition to renewable energy, creating high quality jobs and reducing household energy bills.
The climate crisis is the biggest threat we face, and we need to tackle it now, but the action we take can also transform our society into one which is fairer and more equal.
The Scottish Greens’ vision is for people as well as for planet. We plan to fund the investment in renewables with a wealth tax on the richest one per cent - those with more than £3.4 million in assets.
Scottish Greens have already secured record funding to protect climate and nature and Scotland has led the way with renewables, cutting climate emissions and creating new green jobs.
We need to build on this and the stakes couldn’t be higher, so in this election we need to vote like our future depends on it.
Gillian Cole-Hamilton (Liberal Democrats)
Climate change is the biggest challenge we face as a society, and 2023 was the hottest year on record globally, and in the UK was second only to 2022.
We saw heatwaves causing havoc in Greece, further melting of ice in the arctic, and wildfires in Canada. However, we also saw its effects here in the UK, with over 3,000 heat-related deaths in the UK last summer, and disruption to our transport network.
It would be easy to think, then, that there is little to be done, and that we can only try and temper the effects of climate change.
It is a fact that this climate change is driven by human activity, despite false claims to the contrary.
Many will also argue that the UK need not worry, that our contribution to global emissions pale in comparison to countries like the US, China, and India.
While it is the case that the UK does have lower overall emissions, the figures show that per person, the UK emits more than double the greenhouse gases of India.
It is plain to see that as a country we must do more to face up to this challenge. Not only in bringing our own emissions down, but to show how the UK can lead the world in climate action and build a greener, better planet.
It is also a fact that Government has failed to meet the challenge head-on for decades, and are still doing so today.
The announcement by the current prime minister, Rishi Sunak, to roll back on transport projects is a huge blow to our climate targets and to businesses which had invested time and money off the back of them.
While the SNP’s recent announcement that they would abandon their 2030 climate targets, and the admission that they were “always beyond what was possible” highlights the inaction from both our governments on the matter.
Ambitious targets should incentivise action, and that is what Liberal Democrats have set out in our manifesto for this general election. We have set out a plan which will not only bring down emissions and global temperatures, but the energy bills of people across Scotland and the UK.
We believe that local action can lead to global solutions. Everyone has a role to play, from the individual doing the recycling at home, to big businesses and governments working internationally to improve supply chains and find new ways to manufacture products, build our cities, and grow our food.
Together with businesses, Liberal Democrats will make the UK the world leader in the clean technologies of the future. We will help households meet the cost of the transition to net zero and make sure everyone benefits from it, leaving no one behind.
To do this, we would implement a decade-long scheme of emergency upgrades to make homes warmer, more energy-efficient, and cheaper to run.
With free insulation and heat pumps for those on low incomes, and expanding incentives for households to install solar panels.
We would ensure that nearly all of our power is renewable by 2030, and transform our transport network to make it easier to get around the UK by train, and around your local community by bus, bike, or on foot.
Liberal Democrats were recently given a rating of 68/100 by Friends of the Earth on our environmental promises, ahead of Labour, miles ahead of the Conservatives.
By backing the Scottish Liberal Democrats on July 4, you can ensure a strong group of MPs who will work in communities in Ayrshire, Scotland, and across the UK to tackle the climate crisis head on, and clean up our society for good.
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