Greens Throw Down Gauntlet in the UK

Politicians should slash the motorway speed limit to just 55mph if they are serious about their commitment to climate change, the Green party said today.

Caroline Lucas, Green MEP for South-east England, unveiled the proposal to force drivers to slow down as part of a checklist of "key climate challenges" that mainstream parties serious about global warming should adopt.

The Green party's dominance of the climate change issue has recently been eclipsed by mainstream parties keen to seize the green agenda. In an attempt to reclaim ground, the party's annual conference in Liverpool sought to set the policy tone and to highlight the "yawning gap" between political rhetoric and proposed measures to combat climate change put forward by other parties.

The checklist of policies that Ms Lucas said were essential to combat climate change include: the introduction of personal carbon allowances to ensure emissions are shared equally between everyone in the UK; a halt to all road and airport expansion, and incentives to boost renewable electricity generation. She condemned Britain's record on renewables under Labour, which she said had developed at a "snail's pace".