Meacher and Short Clash Over Earth Summit

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Monday, 12 August 2002

The environment minister Michael Meacher was at loggerheads with Clare Short last night over the purpose of the forthcoming Earth Summit in Johannesburg.

"This isn't an environmental summit," said Clare Short, in an apparent rebuke to Mr Meacher's stated priorities. "It's a summit about sustainable development. The biggest challenge to the world is to guarantee to the poor of the world development in a planet that we keep sustainable."

Asked on BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend about Mr Meacher's comments, Ms Short said: "The summit isn't about Britain's transport policy. It is about the sustainable management of the whole world's resources. To focus it all on such issues in the UK is not to talk about what the main issues of the summit will be."

Earlier, Mr Meacher, who fought off an attempt by No 10 to exclude him from the British delegation to the summit, had denounced Labour policies on transport, house-building and airports.

He complained that the Government had not faced up to the scale of the threat to the environment and depicted himself as a "lone voice in the wilderness" on the subject.

But a Downing Street spokeswoman said: "The Government is committed to sustainable development to ensure we have a planet worth living on for our children and their children."

Source: Nigel Morris The Independent 12.8.02. For full story go to: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=323642