London, 16 May – Lord Turnbull, the former Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service (2002 – 2005), has called on MPs and ministers to consider more carefully the rising costs and economic risks of Britain’s unilateral climate policies.
In a dispassionate but devastating critique of current policies, Andrew Turnbull also criticises the blind faith in the propositions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) given that they do not bear the weight of certainty with which they are often expressed.
In his briefing paper for the Global Warming Policy Foundation, Lord Turnbull outlines the many doubts and disagreements that exist about key IPCC assumptions.
“Ministers would be well advised not to place such heavy bets on just one rather alarmist source of advice,” Lord Turnbull said.
Lord Turnbull added: “Vince Cable was right to point out the serious threat the UK’s unilateral climate targets pose to British business and the economy, particularly at a time of considerable economic fragility.”
Nigel Lawson, the chairman of the Global Warming Policy Foundation said:
“Lord Turnbull has had unsurpassed experience of policy-making at the highest level under governments of both parties. His measured verdict provides important lessons which ministers and senior officials in particular, but also parliamentarians, eminent scientists and the media, all need to reflect on.”
Lord Turnbull’s briefing paper The Really Inconvenient Truth, Or “It Ain’t Necessarily So” was launched today by the Global Warming Policy Foundation.
The full paper can be downloaded here
About the author
Andrew Turnbull was Permanent Secretary, Environment Department, 1994-98; Permanent Secretary to the Treasury 1998-2002, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service 2002-05. He is now a crossbench member of the House of Lords and a Trustee of the Global Warming Policy Foundation.
Contact:
Dr Benny Peiser
The Global Warming Policy Foundation
1 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5DB
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www.gwpf.net