from Sunday Herald, 01 April 2007
Labour activists are mounting a bid to oust the UK Environment Minister, David Miliband, as head of the Labour Party's green wing because of his avowed support for nuclear power.
Miliband, increasingly mentioned as a possible challenger to Gordon Brown for Labour leader, was appointed president of the Socialist Environment and Resources Association (SERA) in January. SERA is affiliated to the Labour Party, and has been influential in formulating the party's environmental policy for years.
SERA has always been opposed to nuclear power, but Miliband has repeatedly said that that the technology has a role to play in combating climate change. This has infuriated some SERA members, who say that they weren't consulted about his appointment.
Now Scottish members are spearheading an attempt to force Miliband out. They say that more than 30 members throughout the UK have pledged to sign a letter demanding a special meeting to discuss a motion calling on Miliband to "graciously move aside".
The motion argues that those involved in installing Miliband "have done much to neutralise the authority of SERA within the energy debate". He should be replaced by a "candidate who is more inclined to loyally represent SERA by being opposed to nuclear power", it says.
SERA Scotland has also asked SERA's UK executive to reconsider Miliband's position when it meets in London tomorrow. Although Miliband was chosen by the executive, his appointment has still to be ratified at an annual general meeting later this year.
"It is not appropriate for David Miliband to be president of SERA," said Claudia Beamish, energy spokesperson for SERA Scotland. "I really feel I would be in dereliction of my duty if I didn't speak out about this. But I'm very sad that I have to because of the position taken by the SERA executive."
Beamish, who is first on Labour's list of candidates for the Scottish Parliament in the South of Scotland, thought that most SERA members would agree with her. "As a representative of SERA, I'm not prepared to stand by while members are expressing concerns and resigning," she said.
Dr Ian Fairlie, a radiation expert who has been an active member of SERA for over 30 years in London, quit over Miliband's appointment. "It was a wrench to leave, but I felt there was no alternative," he told the Sunday Herald.
SERA had been set up as an anti-nuclear organisation in the 1970s and had played a key role opposing nuclear power ever since, Fairlie said. "To have this long history overturned on the whim of the present chairman and his pro-Blair executive was just too much, not only for me but many others who have resigned or are close to doing so."
Another long-standing SERA member, Dr David Lowry, pointed out that his position had been made "untenable" by Miliband's appointment. Lowry represents SERA in formal stakeholder discussions with the government's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
"Does David Miliband need this kind of nuclear fission in his life?", he asked. "It would be better if he tactically withdrew from SERA."
But a spokesman for Miliband said that he had no intention of standing down as SERA's president. He had been "very honoured" when he had been invited to accept the position in January.
Critics with SERA were entitled to their views but they were in the minority, the spokesman suggested. "Most people will be delighted to have David Miliband as their president," he argued.
"He respects the fact that people have different views on nuclear power, but his view is that, along with renewables and carbon capture and storage, it will have a role to play if we are to have a low-carbon economy."
According to SERA's UK chairman, Hywel Lloyd, dissent within the organisation was limited to a handful of activists. In his experience, far more members were enthusiastic about appointing Miliband.
"Most people think that he is the right person to make SERA influential in the party," he said. "His advantages hugely outweigh his disadvantages."
Lloyd stressed that SERA's policy was still opposed to nuclear power. "I know of no political party in which everyone agrees about everything," he said.
Comments