GFTU BGCM 2019 Minutes

regions. That was my idea for a green new deal for the north. We talk about

climate change as though it is a very neutral thing, but we have been told on

the Guardian by our editors to talk about it as a climate emergency. We should

be talking about this as a war on global warming and if you think about the

1940s when the Government was then faced with a similar national

emergency, a life or death struggle, they did not really care two hoots about

what happened to public borrowing, it just did what was necessary in order to

win the battle against fascism.

My political answer is we need to rethink climate change/climate emergency as

akin to winning and existential struggle, in which case you do not really worry

about counting the beans. Economically, I think it would pay for itself, because

you would put people back to work, you would give them good jobs, you would

raise real incomes in a sustainable way, you would grow the economy and

reduce the deficit and the borrowing, because it is being done at very, very low

levels would pay for itself. I think the green new deal approach really is an idea

whose time has come.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Any other questions? Any other points

people would like to make while we have got Larry here?

BRO STEVE GILLAN (POA): I am afraid it is on the Brexit debate again, Larry.

Steve Gillan, General Secretary of the POA. My union remained neutral in the

Brexit debate. We wanted our members to make up their own mind and part of

that was done because the Executive were afraid of what the outcome would

look like if we adopted a policy on this, because I look at social media and I see

during that Referendum there was a massive nationalistic approach to it over

various parts of the country and that was my biggest fear. Personally, I voted

to remain and the reason I did so was for fear of handing this Government total

carte blanche to do what they wanted to do and having a bonfire for workers’

rights. If it had been a socialist government in place then perhaps I may have

looked differently at it, but we have not got a socialist government in place. So

that is the worry that I have, but, more and more, where I live in Essex and

Basildon, around East Thurrock and places like that, if you think fascism is

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