Question Time debates climate change

Warwick Question Time saw a high turnout on Thursday 26 November, where the Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Green, Libertarian, Socialist Worker and Socialist Student societies talked on issues spanning the environment, the economy and foreign affairs.

The talk had to be moved from MS.04 to MS.01 due to the high attendance.

On the economy, the panel were subject to questioning about the financial downturn. Lenny Shail, the president of the Socialist Student society, said how the recession was a “crisis of the rich” and condemned how government policy meant working class people were paying for the bankers’ problems.

Danny Schwarz, the Treasurer for the Labour society countered this by pointing out how the government were responding to unemployment and helping people to stay in their houses by supplementing their mortgages.

When the discussion moved onto climate change, Andrew O’Brien, of the Conservative Party, pointed to national Conservative policy of promoting fixed-term loans of £5,000 to £6,000 to make people’s homes greener.

Katie Rickard, the vice-president of the Liberal Democrat society, said how the national party was hoping for a Zero Carbon Britain by 2050.

In reference to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen, beginning on the 7th December, she stressed how it was important for Britain to “be strong” when joining nearly ninety leaders of different nations across the world.

Rajiv Shah, the external officer of the Warwick Libertarians, said how the public could sue polluters, making sure that there was minimal state intervention when it came to environmental issues.

One audience member asked whether nuclear power was the only solution. O’Brien maintained that new technologies such as wind power should be encouraged and adopted, meanwhile nuclear power was the only established technology available to prevent a potential energy crisis.

The other topic widely debated was foreign affairs and Britain’s presence in Iraq. The Greens and the Socialist Workers sustained the view that war is not a useful solution to international conflict. Aiden Barlow, president of the Socialist Workers society, said he regretted what he saw as an “imperialist” war. O’Brien argued that Britain should not leave until “the job was done”.

When asked about how Question Time went, Rickard replied, “It was a successful debate which generated a lot of interest.

“The sparring between the Labour and Conservative society however portrayed how little either party has really got to offer in policy”.

Jenny Thomason, a second year Maths student said, “though I enjoyed the debate, the topics covered seemed fairly limited and tired.

“I would have liked to hear about subjects which were more up to date, for example the Queens speech”.