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Kent County Council rescinds climate change emergency declaration

BBC · last updated

Council rescinds climate change emergency declaration

Fiona Irving/BBC Two women stand outside Kent County Council's offices in Maidstone holding placards. One says "if you say you are sceptical of man-made climate change you are either a liar or a fool and certainly a coward", the other says "Reform UK funded by fossil fuel billionaires." Fiona Irving/BBC

Protestors against the motion gathered outside County Hall in Maidstone before the meeting

Kent County Council has rescinded its declaration of a climate emergency.

The motion, which the authority passed in 2019, was proposed by Reform UK members after the party took control of the council in May’s local elections.

Protesters from both sides of the debate gathered outside County Hall in Maidstone on Thursday morning, leading to a short confrontation between members of the two groups.

The motion was passed by 50 votes to 21, with three abstentions.

Sarah Waite-Gleave, who was protesting the move, said: “We are getting more floods, the Kent Resilience forum are asking all towns to have plans in place to protect people from extreme weather conditions, which are made more frequent by climate change.

“To deny we need that sort of resilience for our communities is completely daft.”

Fiona Irving/BBC Two women and one man stand outside County Hall in Maidstone holding a series of banners. They say "There is no climate emergency: Another hoax: We are the carbon they want to get rid of!!", "Climate change is normal", "CO2 is the gas of life", and "All CO2 ends up in the sea".Fiona Irving/BBC

Some locals showed support of the Reform UK motion

The Conservative Party, who lost control of the council in May, said it would support the Reform UK motion, as did the single UKIP member.

The Green Party, Liberal Democrats and Labour Party opposed it.

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