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We get a lot of questions about the campaign and have tried to answer some of them here - including why we're focussing on a Prime Ministerial address rather than new laws or taxes, why we're concentrating on Britain, not overseas, why we think the PM will make this address and why we don't think he would waste this opportunity. We also discuss what we expect him to say in the address, and what we think the impact of an address would be. If you have any further questions, please email us at info@letstalkgordon.org.uk.
How does this fit in with the Climate Change Bill?
We strongly support the Climate Change Bill and we hope the targets within it are as strong as possible. But we know that setting targets isn't enough, and we think the Government needs to communicate with people about the choices we'll need to make in order to meet them. That's what this campaign is all about.
Most people don't trust Gordon Brown. Some don't even know who he is. Would anyone even listen if he made an address?
A lot of people don’t trust Gordon Brown, its true, but we believe this is all the more reason to push him to do the right thing. A few people may not know who he is, but the vast majority do, and while they might not trust him on some ‘political’ things, most would believe him if he went on tv and talked about a national emergency or an issue about our future, like climate change. Not everyone will listen to him, but of all the people in the country, he's the only one who could make an address like this. But the reason for the debate that would follow the address is to ensure that everyone, not just the Government, gets to have their say. Ultimately, this isn't about Gordon Brown - its about us as a nation deciding what we should be doing about climate change.
Why are you concentrating on domestic policy? Shouldn't the Government focus on putting pressure on China and the US?
Its true that most carbon emissions don't come from the UK, and its important that the Government keeps pressuring other countries reduce their emissions. That's why in the text supporting the petition, we specifically ask the Prime Minister to keep putting pressure on other countries. But the truth is that everyone in the world can look at climate change and say that other people are to blame. Even people in China and the US can say that the vast majority of carbon emissions come from outside their country. This means that every country could have a policy on climate change which involved putting pressure on other countries, while not making any changes themselves. At some stage one country is going to have to lead the way. Britain could be that country. We are part of the EU (which produces 21% of global emissions) and the G8 (which produces 43% of global emissions). If we led the way and set an example to those countries, we could really make an impact on climate change. And by showing how a country can work together to reduce its carbon emissions, we'll be in a much better position to put pressure on countries outside the EU and G8 to reduce their emissions too.
Why campaign for Gordon Brown to make an address. Why not campaign for some new laws instead?
Ultimately, if might be that some new laws might be needed, but you can't just impose laws on people, especially if they're going to impact on people's everyday lives. The Government needs to have a conversation with people about what climate change means, and if there are difficult choices to be made, what those choices might be and why we have to make them. The televised address is a way of starting that conversation, and people would be much more likely to accept what is decided if they have been involved in the decision-making process.
People already know what to do on climate change. What more do you want Gordon Brown to say?
Its true that a lot of people already are doing things on climate change. But its possible that what we're doing at the moment isn't enough. According to the Government, Britain needs to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 60-80% over the coming years. This may mean that we need to be doing more than what we're currently doing in order to meet that target and make a real impact on climate change. The address from the Prime Minister could start a debate on what those things might be.
What do you think the Prime Minister should say in the address?
We are asking is that he gives an assessment of the threat of climate change and that he starts a debate about how we should respond. We’d expect him to talk about how climate change is a major threat and how it will mean that everyone (Government, businesses and people) all need to play a role in responding to it. We know he would say this because he has already said similar things in previous speeches. What would be different in the address is that rather than simply describing the threat, he would be officially starting a debate between Government and people about how we should be responding to it.
Would things actually change if the Prime Minister made an address to the nation?
Yes, but not overnight. The address is meant to be the start of something, not the end. It’s meant to start a debate about what people in Britain should be doing: how can we recycle more? Should the Government put a tax on plastic bags? Should the Government make it more expensive to use cars and less expensive to use public transport? These are the questions we need to answer as a country. We would not expect the Prime Minister to answer all these questions in the address, but the conversation he would start could be used to make choices on these issues, and people would be more likely to be happy with these choices if they had been involved in the conversation.
Is the Prime Minister actually going to make an address like this?
Yes, if we get enough support. The Prime Minister will do things if they are supported by enough people, especially something like an address which doesn’t cost any money and isn’t harmful in any way. What we don’t know precisely is how many people it will take to persuade him to make the address, but we can guess it will be over 100,000. The main thing may not be the exact number but the amount of pressure, particularly in the media, that we can build on him to do it, so once the number of people signed up to the campaign goes over 100,000, a major media campaign will be launched.
How is a Prime Minister doing an address different from a normal speech?
It’s different because he’s actually talking directly to people, and the whole country will hear When the Prime Minister does a normal speech, it’s just him in a room, and they only people who hear are the ones in the room, and maybe some people watching the news if the speech is featured. But even if it’s on the news, the clip of him speaking will only be ten seconds long. If the Prime Minister wants to be heard on climate change, then he needs to find a way to speak directly and unedited to the whole country. The televised address is the only way to do this.An address of this kind would be almost unprecedented, and would generate massive media coverage, meaning it would be very difficult for anyone to miss what the Prime Minister had to say.
How can you ensure that the Prime Minister does not waste this opportunity by simply saying things we've already heard or by this turning into a party political broadcast?
Before the address, there would be substantial media coverage building up to it and it would be broadcast in prime-time, making it likely that millions of people, perhaps tens of millions, would be watching the address if he made it. It would be a historic and unprecedented event, and a huge opportunity. If the Prime Minister wasted this opportunity or politicised the address in any way, he would lose the support of millions of people, the climate change movement and all its supporters, the scientific community and all the young people who had supported the campaign. With an election on the horizon, we don't believe the Prime Minister would do this, but if he did, we do have a strategy for this eventuality"