Yahoo News Corbyn hits out at millionaires who 'fly about in private jets and heat empty mansions'
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has taken aim at corporate ‘green measures’ designed at a cost to the taxpayer.
The Opposition leader said the cost of ‘saving the planet falls on’ the public - and criticised how the upper classes waste money and energy.
The comments come as Labour said it would take the National Grid into public ownership which would also save councils an additional £66million per year.
Mr Corbyn said: ‘In this country, too often people are made to feel like the cost of saving the planet falls on them.
‘Too many think of green measures as just another way for companies or the government to get money out of them, while the rich fly about in private jets and heat their empty mansions.’
Mr Corbyn made the comments as he announced plans to fit a million homes with eco-friendly solar panel systems.
Today Labour has announced our plans to fit solar panels to 1.75 million homes - council homes and low-income households.
This won't just provide these households with free energy but combat climate change and boost jobs. pic.twitter.com/BZzxMfKLVr— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) May 16, 2019
It part of a Labour bid to save householders around £117 a year on energy bills.
An additional 750,000 households will be given the chance to have them installed through a programme of interest free loans, grants and changes to regulations.
Mr Corbyn says the policy will create 16,900 jobs and cut back on more than seven million tonnes of CO2 .
Speaking in Yorkshire, Mr Corbyn continued: ‘Labour’s approach is different.
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‘Our Green Industrial Revolution will benefit working class people with cheaper energy bills, more rewarding well-paid jobs, and new industries to revive the parts of our country that have been held back for far too long.
‘By focusing on low income households we will reduce fuel poverty and increase support for renewable energy. Social justice and climate justice as one.’
Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey claimed energy customers had been ‘ripped off’ by privatisation.
She said suppliers prioritised shareholders’ dividends - which saw £13 billion paid out over five years- instead of focusing on putting money into the green economy.
When Labour passed a climate emergency two weeks ago, people asked what this meant for policy.
Well here's a start:
1. Mass deployment of solar power, cutting bills and emissions
2. A public grid to roll out renewable energy, run in your interestshttps://t.co/BTgX15qyKY— Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey) May 16, 2019
She said: ‘It’s an insult and an injustice to our people and our planet for companies operating the grid to rip customers off, line the pockets of the rich and not invest properly in renewable energy.
‘Only by taking the grid into public ownership can we de-carbonise the economy at the pace needed to secure the planet for our children and grandchildren while ending the rip off, creating good jobs in local communities and making heating and electricity a human right.’
