Newsbytes: UK Climate Minister Voted Out, Green LibDems Wiped Out in Election

David Cameron wins majority for Conservatives in Election 2015 victory

Britain’s Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey has lost his seat to the Conservative party, in an election night that has seen the Liberal Democrats presence in the House of Commons decimated. —The Mirror, 8 May 2015

Ed_Lemmings_scrDavid Cameron has won the general election with an outright majority after Labour was virtually wiped out in Scotland and the Liberal Democrat vote collapsed. Mr Cameron hailed the “sweetest victory” as his party secured the 323 seats needed to form a government without needing to go into coalition. Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, has resigned. Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor was the biggest scalp of the night, losing his Leeds seat to the Tories. —The Daily Telegraph, 8 May 2015

The Prime Minister has pledged to stop future government funding to windfarm projects including the delayed inquiry and to give local people the final say – if he is re-elected today. Mr Cameron pledged to stop the windfarm project and any other on-shore windfarms within Montgomeryshire if he was elected to take a second term in Government. He said: “I want to make it clear that if there is a Conservative Government in place we will remove all subsidy for on-shore wind and local people should have a greater say.” –Ben Goddard, County Times, 7 May 2015

Speculation is growing that energy and climate change department’s days of independence could be numbered. A government source said that if David Cameron is re-elected, he is likely to fold it into the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, where the government has more staff with commercial experience. –John Collingridge and Danny Fortson, The Sunday Times, 5 April 2015

New government will have to address capacity shortfalls to avoid blackouts.  Avoiding a power blackout will be one of the first priorities for whoever forms the next government, a leading consultant has suggested. Critics argue that a focus on renewables has left Britain’s power network now dangerously short of spare capacity. –Andrew Critchlow, The Daily Telegraph, 8 May 2015

Thanks to Dr. Benny Peiser of The GWPF

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mikewaite
May 8, 2015 7:35 am

Lets not get too excited : “not the beginning of the end , but maybe the end of the beginning”
Someone was bound to say it.

Reply to  mikewaite
May 8, 2015 9:06 pm

“It will be alright in the end; and if it isn’t alright, it’s not the end.”

May 8, 2015 7:52 am

I’m half Scottish and half French, which, if you take the average, makes me English.

E.M.Smith
Editor
Reply to  Max Photon
May 8, 2015 9:07 am

I am an Irish, German, French, Viking mix, so that makes me English too… I guess!
(The Viking and some of the German come via Mum, who was born in England from N. E. of London… though Dad was an Irish German bit of French Yank… and I’m an American Mutt…)

climatereason
Editor
Reply to  E.M.Smith
May 8, 2015 9:10 am

E M Smith
That’s a really meaningless average. Just like an average global temperature and average sea level rise. 🙂
tonyb

Reply to  E.M.Smith
May 8, 2015 6:10 pm

Ummm … that was the joke.

climatereason
Editor
Reply to  E.M.Smith
May 9, 2015 2:12 am

Max
Uuuummm, yes I know which is why I made the climate connection for those that may not have done.
tonyb

Billy Liar
Reply to  Max Photon
May 8, 2015 9:20 am

The ‘auld alliance’ is still working then.

clipe
Reply to  clipe
May 9, 2015 4:00 pm

– Brigadier-General James Murray – who accepted the capitulation of French forces five days after the battlefield death of General James Wolfe, and it was a Scot – Major Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas-Roch de Ramezay – who capitulated. De Ramezay was a Ramsay, a clan that traced its Scottish ancestry back to Norman origins in the 12th century. Looking strictly at the battle that made Wolfe famous, a Scot won it and a Scot lost it. For good measure, it took place on a field named for Abraham Martin, an early settler known as The Scot.

Crabby.
May 8, 2015 8:06 am

We in Aus have just had our “Socialist” Media (channels 2 and 10) give us some rubbish about the coalition not supporting Climate Change. That’s what we voted them in for isn’t it? Now if only the Senate could get their act together, it would be a lot more productive on this end of the world! Not a word about David Cameron winning in the U.K. though. Happy Trails everyone.

Editor
May 8, 2015 8:14 am

The result of the election, in my view, was the best that could have happened. We have a promise of a referendum on the EU and a government that doesn’t spend other peoples money trying to solve problems of its own making. Policies will not now be compromised by the LibDems and I will guess that the green agenda will be dumped and we can start being self-sufficient with fracking.

Alan McIntire
May 8, 2015 8:17 am

Regarding that cartoon showing Ed “lemming” Davey. Everyone “knows” lemmings will follow each other of cliffs- it comes from an old “Walt Disney” nature film “White Wilderness”. I later found out that the myth was nonsensical- those making the movie jazzed it up by PUSHING those lemmings- they didn’t go voluntarily. Needless to say, my opinion of the morality of those working at Disney studios dropped several notches after discovering this.

Pete W.
May 8, 2015 8:25 am

I saw a sign somewhere. It said:
“Why is it that the only people who know how to govern the country are too busy either driving taxis or cutting hair?”

Resourceguy
May 8, 2015 8:50 am

The other personalities woke up and saw stupid eroding the country around them and under their feet and those of the their family.

Dreadnought
May 8, 2015 8:52 am

As a Brit, this was SUCH great news to hear this morning – it’s the best thing that could have happened for the UK, short of a UKIP landslide. Just look at all the spittle-flecked, swivel-eyed lunatics who have been slung out on their ear – Ed Davey, Ed Balls, Ed Milipede, Calamity Clegg, Vince Cable, Douglas Alexander, Danny Alexander, etc.
AND let’s not forget, David Cameron made a pledge during his election campaign that if the Conservatives won a majority – which they have – they would repeal the appalling Death Act (aka the 2008 Climate Change Act). He’s broken promises before, so we’ll have to see – but there is hope that this utter codswallop will finally be killed off…

Hugh Davis
Reply to  Dreadnought
May 8, 2015 9:27 am

David Cameron made no such pledge! The report was an April 1st wind up on the website Energy Matters. See http://euanmearns.com/tories-place-energy-policy-at-heart-of-manifesto/

Non Nomen
May 8, 2015 9:09 am

The Prime Minister has pledged to stop future government funding to windfarm projects including the delayed inquiry and to give local people the final say – if he is re-elected today. Mr Cameron pledged to stop the windfarm project and any other on-shore windfarms within Montgomeryshire if he was elected to take a second term in Government. He said: “I want to make it clear that if there is a Conservative Government in place we will remove all subsidy for on-shore wind and local people should have a greater say.”

Camoron once gave a “cast iron guarantee” to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. He failed to deliver. He won’t deliver now, none of his promises will become reality. To me, he is a preposterous liar.
Btw: Nigel Farage said he would resign if …. “if” happened and he resigned. But he never said he wouldn’t stand again…

WAM
May 8, 2015 9:09 am

Watch the pea…
Mr. Cameron said: on-shore wind farms. There are BIG plans to install wind turbines on the sea.
There are BIG interests in the “green energy” promotion – and who benefits from them? City, big energy companies. Shall they stop using this beautiful business opportunity tomorrow? As long as the Climate Act is in operation – I see no reason for them to do this.
Has anyone said during the campaign – it is time for Nuclear & Gas? For shale and tight oil? For abandoning the Climate Act? And UK is still in EU, and there is 20/20 policy, as I remember, and just recently there was a new decision about the price of CO2.
So, let’s no delude ourselves.

May 8, 2015 9:14 am

One of the first Political Parties in the world to embrace the Global Warming propaganda under their most revered former leader, Margaret Thatcher. Don’t expect any wavering of the faithful any time soon. Dissenting Conservatives will still be silenced on this issue.

Janice Moore
Reply to  wickedwenchfan
May 8, 2015 10:05 am

Informed Conservatives rejected AGW long ago…
just as did Lady Margaret Thatcher:
“In 2003, towards the end of her last book, Statecraft, in a passage headed “Hot Air and Global Warming”, she issued what amounts to an almost complete recantation of her earlier views. ***
… she questioned the main scientific assumptions used to drive the scare, … . She mocked Al Gore and the futility of “costly and economically damaging” schemes to reduce CO2 emissions. *** She recognised how distortions of the science had been used to mask an anti-capitalist, Left-wing political agenda which posed a serious threat to the progress and prosperity of mankind.”
{Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/7823477/Was-Margaret-Thatcher-the-first-climate-sceptic.html }

richardscourtney
Reply to  Janice Moore
May 8, 2015 11:43 am

Janice Moore
Yes, Thatcher did renounce AGW when it had fulfilled its usefulness to her. But that was AFTER she had created the AGW-scare for reasons of personal political self-interest, and AFTER the scare had taken on a life of its own. Please read this explanation of what she did and why.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is not exonerated because of recantation after the damage became uncontrollable.
Richard
PS Starting the AGW scare was among the least damaging of Thatcher’s policies.

richardscourtney
Reply to  Janice Moore
May 8, 2015 11:44 am

Mods
My reply to Janice Moore is in the ‘bin’ because of a name in its link. Please retrieve it.
Richard

Chris
Reply to  Janice Moore
May 8, 2015 12:04 pm

That’s one Conservative who last served in office nearly 25 years ago. Do you have any more recent examples?

May 8, 2015 9:34 am

Ed Davey getting the boot was the best news I’ve heard today 😉
Gotta love Josh’s version of events too, lol!

richardscourtney
Reply to  henry53
May 8, 2015 10:49 pm

Patrick
Please explain what – if any – relevance there is of your reply to my comment.
Richard

richardscourtney
Reply to  richardscourtney
May 8, 2015 10:53 pm

Sorry, this response to Patrick is in the wrong place.
Richard

David, UK
May 8, 2015 9:42 am

Such a relief. I’m not a Tory (I voted for those extreme right-wingers UKIP!) but this has to be better than I had hoped. I walk through a student housing area every day near my workplace, and almost every window displays a Vote Green Party banner. So depressing, the low quality of thinking churned out by our universities, and yet now my faith in commonsense is revived just slightly. Of course the Tories can’t be trusted as far as you can throw them (Cameron is suddenly anti-windfarm subsidies after years of being so pro-Green, f*****g charlatan) and they still believe in Keynesian economics like the Lefties, borrowing, printing, manufacturing false booms which inevitably bust, but still this good. Er, I think. I need a drink.

richardscourtney
Reply to  David, UK
May 8, 2015 11:53 am

David, UK
You need more than a drink if you think Camoron intends to withdraw windfarm subsidies. His father-in-law owns a windfarm company.
Richard

Patrick
Reply to  richardscourtney
May 8, 2015 8:37 pm

When has any pollie not had self interests at heart? I am sure Milliband has some “interests” in green energy too!

richardscourtney
Reply to  richardscourtney
May 8, 2015 10:51 pm

Patrick
Please explain what – if any – relevance there is of your reply to my comment.
Richard
PS This is a repeat of my comment at May 8, 2015 at 10:49 pm but hopefully in the right place this time.

Mr Green Genes
Reply to  richardscourtney
May 9, 2015 2:21 am

Richard
On a point of accuracy, I think you’ll find that he doesn’t own the company but leases the land to the company who operates the wind farm. If you think about it, that’s the better way to make money – all the upside from the rent without any of the downside of maintenance of the equipment etc.
By the way, I see that your neck of the woods is as blue as mine – every seat in Wiltshire is Tory as, from the look of the map, is also the case for Cornwall. In my constituency (Devizes) it wouldn’t matter who I voted for as the Tory gets well over 50% of the vote (but not mine haha).
Still, the most enjoyable moment of the whole election for me was seeing Ed Balls get everything he deserved. Schadenfreude can be a good thing under certain circumstances.

richardscourtney
Reply to  richardscourtney
May 9, 2015 2:41 am

Mr Green Genes
I take your point of “accuracy” and thank you for it because it strengthens my admittedly succinct comment.
And, Yes, with the exception of one seat in Exeter (that has remained red) all of Devon and Cornwall has turned blue.
Within the memories of all electors, the peninsula was mostly LibDem with some Labour seats in Exeter and Plymouth.
Richard

Patrick
Reply to  richardscourtney
May 10, 2015 2:05 am

His father in-law has interestes. That should be enough for you to chew on!

Janice Moore
May 8, 2015 10:08 am

GREAT CARTOON, JOSH!


One of your finest uses of color and shading, too. Excellent!

Hot under the collar
May 8, 2015 10:27 am

Ed ‘The Weasel’ Davey losing his seat was the best result of the night!
Now maybe Labour will ‘get rid of the green crap’ and they may get a few votes back next time.

May 8, 2015 10:31 am

This is almost unbelievable, as it is such great news!!!

EEB
May 8, 2015 11:35 am

May 8, 2015 11:45 am

Were AGW, green energy and energy reliability even primary concerns in this election?

Philip Arlington
May 8, 2015 11:46 am

It is great that Ed Davey lost his seat, but David Cameron is a kool-aid drinker himself and his father-in-law is a wind farm profiteer, so the UK is far from escaping the lunacy.

Resourceguy
May 8, 2015 11:58 am

Funny how the pollsters miss in the same way in the US as in the UK skewed toward the libs in multiple cases leading up to the election.

richardscourtney
Reply to  Resourceguy
May 8, 2015 12:07 pm

Resourceguy
Actually, the polls were not skewed. Please see my above post.
Richard

Resourceguy
Reply to  richardscourtney
May 8, 2015 12:43 pm

Okay, but why would polling orgs knowingly do it the wrong way by design.

richardscourtney
Reply to  richardscourtney
May 8, 2015 12:56 pm

Resourceguy
You ask me

Okay, but why would polling orgs knowingly do it the wrong way by design.

They did it the wrong way but you are assuming they “knowingly do it the wrong way by design”.
I see no reason for your assumption.
Assessing local shares of the vote would be much more work than the old way which assessed national share of the vote. And the ‘old way’ worked for elections before this one when the LibDems collapsed, the SNP had a landslide and there was large growth of UKIP support.
As I said to MikeB

The polls measured the wrong thing; i.e. national vote share.
National vote share does not indicate the local vote shares, but local vote shares determine seats won.

But the pollsters had no reason to think they were measuring the wrong thing because in past elections the national vote share was a proxy for the local vote shares.
Richard

richardscourtney
Reply to  MikeB
May 8, 2015 12:35 pm

MikeB
Nothing went wrong with the polls. Claims that the polls were wrong are excuses for pollsters having polled the wrong thing.
The polls measured the wrong thing; i.e. national vote share.
National vote share does not indicate the local vote shares, but local vote shares determine seats won.
I again ask you to read my above post here which explains the matter.
Richard

MikeB
Reply to  MikeB
May 8, 2015 2:46 pm

richardscourtney
Reply to  MikeB
May 8, 2015 10:56 pm

MikeB
An assertion of “Shy Tories” who don’t exist does not explain an error of the polls that did not occur.
Richard

DirkH
May 8, 2015 1:20 pm

My condolences to the English Fabians. You have been misunderstood by those damn bastard voters.

Hot under the collar
May 8, 2015 1:44 pm

It’s worse than Davey thought! He had a majority of 7,560 in 2010, the conservative who beat him this time has a majority of almost 3000!
Perhaps the wider public are more aware of the ‘climate change’ scam than we thought.

Lil Fella of Oz
May 8, 2015 2:41 pm

What an XLNT result. Sorry, maybe not for pro AGWs.

Charlie
May 8, 2015 3:12 pm

What’s a green libdem? can I find those at the garden center?

philincalifornia
Reply to  Charlie
May 8, 2015 9:56 pm

Maybe if you’re OK with one that’s past its sell-by date.

Patrick
May 8, 2015 4:39 pm

One policy decision Cameron made was to allow pensioners with private fund to send part of that fund into term deposits (TD) with gauratees of 1%-2% returns. Many 65 year olds and up placed millions of pounds into TD just before this election. If you look at the demographics I am sure you will find many 65 yera olds voted Conservative.

DirkH
Reply to  Patrick
May 9, 2015 3:37 am

“with gauratees of 1%-2% returns. ”
Quite depressing isn’t it. Keynesian endtimes.

Patrick
Reply to  Patrick
May 10, 2015 2:08 am

1% – 2% is better than nothing. Also raising the “tax free threshold” dropped many low wage earners out of the tax take.