The Lib Dems, as many will know, love to be holier than thou. Thus when the scandal about their dodgy criminal donor broke it caused them huge embarrassment. This week in Brighton they have called for the hammering of non-domicile status residents of the UK, and railed against those that use offshore havens.This morning their breath-taking hypocrisy has been laid bear in the Times which reports that one of their biggest single donors, Alpha Healthcare - the Jospeh Rowntree Foundation is the biggest should you be wondering - is actually a company controlled in the offshore tax-haven of the British Virgin Islands.
Of course it's not just on matters of tax that they play this hypocritical game. We already have their environment spokesman Chris Huhne owning shares in environmentally destructive mining companies after all. And yet, after a week in Brighton they persist in telling us how they are the true party of the environment. Why, they've even gone so far as to say they want to scrap petrol and diesel cars to tackle climate change.
What I'm having problems with is how this squares with a couple of pertinent point. First up is their Scottish leader's demands for a share in North Sea Oil revenues. If you're going to beat the drum about how green you are then demanding that you have a share in revenue for something you believe to be bad might not be the best way to go about it?
Secondly, and another thing that might show you up to be mildly hypocritical on such matters would be if you accepted political donations from an oil company. Yes, you know what is coming next. Not only do the party that hate non-doms accept donations from them, but the party against petrol cars also accepts donations from petrol producers.
OK, so it's not massive amount, but back in April the Scottish Lib Dems (who seem to be quite vocal at the moment about North Sea Oil) accepted a £10,000 political donation from First Oil Exploration (North Sea) Plc. I wonder how they feel about the news they want to remove part of their market?
9 comments:
Is Huhne's mining company bad on the eco front? I didn't think it was particularly.
They should just be pleased anybody noticed. Means they must be making progress!!! lol.
The Lib-Dims are pathetic and totally useless. They are like moths and john prescott - they have no point to their existence. They can only come out with these idiotic ideas because no right thinking voter would let them anywhere near the levers of power.
can you justify this?
"..Chris Huhne owning shares in environmentally destructive mining companies.... "(centamin)
when we have
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/070502/0247253.html
........it (centamin)has received today Environmental Approval from the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency ("EEAA") for the Sukari Gold Project. The EEAA accepted without amendment the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, submitted by the Company in February 2007........
or would you like us to ban mining?
we should be glad that the libdems are accepting cash form oil cos and huhne has a holding in centamin etc
it might lead to them droppingt thier potty greenie ideas and joining the real world!
they might even consider scraping n sea oil tax (20%)
Sure I can justify it, it was a statement of fact. Mining, is damaging to its environment, you're digging up the ground after all, just because you get a certificate it doesn't mean that your not causing damage. It just means that the damage you are causing is not considered as bad as it could be. Plus mining produces masses of the emissions that the Lib Dems so hate.
ok, so ban mining and back to wooden cars bikes boats bridges 'planes etc etc ????
God no. I couldn't care less about mining. I drive a 4x4 in London. This about certain Lib Dems talking "green" and then acting "brown". Simple as that really. Assuming that because I am pointing this out I am a tree hugging hippy would be rather silly.
Do you know how many Tories have stakes in oil companies?!
Yep, also know how much oil copmpanies have given to Labour and the Tories as parties. Largely irrelevant to the point though, after all, they're not banging on about banning petrol driven cars are they?
Nice attempt at a tu quoque though, shame it was so transparent and weak.
while his actions might look hypocritical i think we should be praising him for showing good sense in his private life and encouraging him to come out from his closet - this should be cause for celebretion not criticism
Post a Comment