Green Leader Polanski Accuses Burnham of Dereliction Over 2-Week Heatwave Response
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 5
Green Leader Polanski Accuses Burnham of Dereliction Over 2-Week Heatwave Response
2 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 5
Summary
Zack Polanski said Andy Burnham's government had failed to treat heatwaves, wildfires and drought as an emergency, attacking the prime minister for not convening a Cobra meeting two weeks after entering Downing Street.
Record heat and an exceptionally dry summer have strained water supplies, fueled wildfire risks and prompted farmer warnings over food supplies, which Polanski called the biggest threat to Britain since World War Two.
Polanski urged immediate measures including publicly accessible cool spaces in every local area, financial help to heatproof homes and a new wildfire strategy that could include firefighting helicopters.
He also renewed Green demands to halt new oil and gas licences, block the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields, and bring England's water sector into public ownership to boost reservoir investment.
Burnham backs greater public control of water but has not endorsed full renationalisation, instead floating a franchising-style model similar to Greater Manchester's bus network without detailing how it would work.