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Shaun Spiers

@shaunspiers1.bsky.social
3.1K followers 271 following 730 posts

Former Green Alliance director, CPRE chief executive, and Labour & Co-op MEP. Rochester resident. Board adviser to ReLondon and trustee of LCEF.

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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 10h
Re Kemi Badenoch's claims to economic competence, increasing the UK's dependence on imported fossil fuels will be very costly both for the economy and for consumers. It's not serious. #r4today
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The Home Builders’ Federation have a long history of opposing measures to raise house building standards, promote energy efficiency, protect nature, ensure a decent share of affordable housing etc etc. Serious politicians don’t let interest groups write their policies.
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Paul McNamee @paulmcnamee.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Some awesome framing from the PM in the Guardian today to accompany the ambitious policy on community energy After a summer of wildfires, extreme heat and poor harvests, we can't afford to see climate as only a threat, we must make sure UK is making most of opportunities of the clean transition
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This is sad - tragic for many who will now be forced to suffer against their will - but not surprising. MPs & (often opaquely funded) lobby groups opposed the bill they feared, not the actual bill & religious fundamentalists of all stripes united against it. 1-0 to reactionary peers.
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
This German comedy sketch (with English subtitles) perfectly captures so much of what is going on right now in the UK, the US, and across Europe. "Playing the 'Nazi Card' in the Third Reich", by Browser Ballett.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Well done to @laurenedwardsmp.bsky.social for a great speech on the Assisted Dying Bill, standing up for personal choice and parliamentary democracy. I hope that if the Commons vote in favour again, the government will get behind the bill & resist Lords' filibustering.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
It is absurd for Kemi Badenoch to suggest that Russia might invade us if we spend 2.9% on defence but not if we spend 3%. This debate (if it can be called a debate) has become so trivial. #r4today
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
If you would like to add your voice to tens of thousands of people thanking RNLI volunteers for their work, 38 Degrees have organised this open letter to express public support (at a time when a hateful fringe have been intimidating & abusing RNLI volunteers) act.38degrees.org.uk/act/rnli-tha...
act.38degrees.org.uk
An open letter in support of the volunteers and staff at the RNLI
This is a disgrace. Brave RNLI volunteers being called scum for risking their lives to save others at sea is just plain wrong. So I've signed an open letter of thanks for the RNLI letting them know th...
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Fascinating thread. I’m with the politicians of 90 years ago!
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Delegates at the Reform conference are currently jigging along to Dexys Midnight Runners. I'm not sure Kevin Rowland will like that...
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
If this is true (& I hope it isn't) it's imperative that the government sticks to the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate & does more to clean home heating (heat pumps). Both are essential to meeting net zero & tackling climate change - and to the UK's credibility as a climate leader.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Big Reform stories on the Telegraph website this evening.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Interesting to hear Robert Jenrick to pick on Natural England as his first quango for the chop. I’d guess that Reform voters love nature (“our green and pleasant land”) and would love an even more natural England.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Basil Liddell Hart: “The Romans coined the maxim: ‘If you wish for peace, prepare for war.’ But the many wars they fought, and the endless series since their day, show that there was a fallacy in the argument.... A truer maxim would be: ‘If you wish for peace, understand war.’"
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
On the PM's "series of wrong turns" since the 1980s, let's add the fact that the state went from spending 80% of its housing budget on building social homes (1975) to devoting 85% to helping tenants pay their rents, often to the private landlords of former council homes (2000). A big wrong turn!
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
This is good from Angela Eagle: the climate crisis is real & serious; we need to tackle it & build resilience, not least by restoring nature. The amazing thing is that this needs saying. It shouldn’t be politically contentious… but it is.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The government’s continuing support of a business that wants to take it down is one of the mysteries of our time. The same applies to the BBC. They should leave X. Others would follow.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Vigorous love in between Andrew Bowie & Justin Webb on #r4today (Webb’s assumption that target dates are ‘arbitrary’, that rising costs are caused by net zero , that net zero is the cause of deindustrialising). Please could the BBC give its presenters a proper briefing on energy policy & net zero.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
.@gabyhinsliff.bsky.social is right that so far the PM has been weak on the climate crisis. But she's wrong on the ZEV mandate. It's not "rigid". Targets are being met & EV sales are booming. The only future for the UK car industry is in embracing the transition to electric vehicles.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Many thanks to the Medway #RepairCafe which did a brilliant job today fixing a couple of floor lamps - they prevented waste but also (a secondary thought, of course!) saved me a fortune.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
This would be, er, an odd response to the growing climate crisis & the rising cost of petrol & diesel. It would also be very bad news for the UK car industry & British consumers . www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Andy Burnham moves to cut new EV sales targets
Possible cut from 80% down to as little as 50% could add millions of tonnes of CO2 to emissions and comes amid UK heatwaves
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
In 2009, @cprecountryside.bsky.social produced a vision for the countryside in 2026, its centenary year. Now we've reached 2026, I've looked back at the vision in 3 short LinkedIn posts. A lot has been achieved but a lot more needs to be done. lnkd.in/p/euPJ2sjX
lnkd.in
It’s the Campaign to Protect Rural England’s centenary year. Twenty odd years ago, when I was CPRE’s chief executive, we put a lot effort into producing a vision for the countryside in 2026 and I… | S...
It’s the Campaign to Protect Rural England’s centenary year. Twenty odd years ago, when I was CPRE’s chief executive, we put a lot effort into producing a vision for the countryside in 2026 and I thou...
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
“The bigger questions will obviously come at the right moment in time.” Bah! In the face of an assault on climate action from Reform & the Conservatives, Andy Burnham should talk about what’s causing the extreme weather & make the case for climate action & net zero.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
This is good. The PM should also be making the case.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
.@zackpolanski.bsky.social is right: the PM and most of his ministers have been remarkably quiet about the growing climate crisis. They should rebut the arguments of the Conservatives & Reform, whose response to the crisis has been to say that we need to rely even more on fossil fuels! #Wato
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Blimey, Amol Rajan really taking Daily Telegraph/ Reform UK talking points on net zero! #r4today
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James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Latest blog is on how Kemi Badenoch can insist she’s not a climate denier, but she clearly doesn’t understand the nature of the threat, fails to comprehend why net zero was adopted, and currently has no plan on how to cut emissions. www.businessgreen.com/blog-post/45...
businessgreen.com
A hot messy summer
As the wildfires rage, what passes for climate discourse on the right of British politics is plumbing depressing new depths
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Interesting #r4today interview with Louise Haigh - but extraordinary for Dharshini to trash her argument in linking to the next item. Perhaps Today should ditch the guests & just give the presenters’ views.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Does anyone know if Badenoch, Farage et al have said anything about the extreme weather and what they'd do to prevent ever more extreme weather in the future? It should be one of the first questions interviewers ask.
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Dignity in Dying @dignityindying.org.uk · 29/07/2026
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
When Kemi Badenoch, Claire Coutinho, Nigel Farage, Richard Tice and all the other climate sceptics & climate deniers (spot the difference) read stories like this in the Telegraph, I wonder what they think. Mind you, the Telegraph story doesn't mention climate change at all. So that's all good.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
#r4today seems to have become an arm of the defence industry (moonlighting for oil and gas on the side).
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Labour Climate and Environment Forum @lcefuk.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
On the day of Andy Burnham's entrance into Downing Street, LCEF's Director @paulmcnamee.bsky.social writes on how climate and environmental ambition speaks to the people from all parts of the UK. Read it here: lcef.co.uk/blog/good-ne...
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
All this focus on sticking to Labour’s manifesto - was there as much talk about honouring manifestos in 1990 or 2007 or 2016 or 2019 or 2022 (twice)? I don’t remember it.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Advice to Spain: don’t now put ten men in defence.
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Fiona Harvey @fionaharvey.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
As Andy Burnham contemplates “drill, baby, drill” for the North Sea - a little reminder of why it would be electoral madness to desert net zero, whatever Tony Blair and the Treasury might think www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
‘Act on the evidence outside the window’: Andy Burnham urged to stick to net zero targets if he becomes PM
Burnham is coming under pressure from some to ditch net zero targets but this could be highly damaging on many levels
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Golden Boot for Saka?
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Andy Burnham’s team’s signalling on N Sea oil & gas drilling is hugely disappointing (however much it pleases D Trump). If the rumours are true, it’s crucial that the new PM also commits to positive climate action (the ZEV mandate, heat pumps, home retrofit, public transport, adaptation etc etc).
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
As someone who also joined the Labour Party in the mid-80s, fired up by Neil Kinnock's oratory, it was good to hear Andy Burnham pay tribute to him.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
What’s really bizarre is the idea that strong backing for net zero (a legally binding target ) is anti-business. It’s the one area of the economy that’s growing in the UK. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
‘Bizarre choice’: business and Labour puzzle over Shabana Mahmood as future chancellor
The home secretary, favourite to take over at No 11, has minimal economic credentials and many MPs would prefer Ed Miliband
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Good to see England win at our national sport (though of course, test cricket is the real test).
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
In defence of planning: my letter in this week's @newstatesman1913.bsky.social. It baffles me that so many people on the centre left take their analysis of planning and the housing crisis from their ideological opponents.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
As the impacts of climate change become ever more evident, more and more politicians and commentators choose to attack the policies necessary to address it. It really is fascinating, though I can also think of a few other words.
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
My first football memory was England losing to Brazil in 1970. #56YearsOfHurt. The least T. Tuchel could have done in Keir Starmer’s last week is bring on Bukayo Saka. Better than parking an inadequate bus. (But hey, I’m a Gillingham fan, so what do I know…).
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
“Her view is that while climate change may be real, there’s no point in trying to do anything about it” - John Crace sums up Kemi Badenoch’s position.
theguardian.com
Kemi declares war on net zero – and what remains of her party
Badenoch’s ideological purge gathers pace as moderates are cast out and the Tories edge ever closer to political extinction
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Letter of the week in the New Statesman: "There is no pleasing John Gray, is there? After decades of denouncing 'progressivism', the Enlightenment and any idea of human progress, Gray now has a US president who embodies the backwardness and nihilism he craves, and he still doesn’t like it..."
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
The Lower Thames Crossing is an environmental & financial disaster but the government has never seriously considered alternatives (as set out by @transportaction.bsky.social). Andy Burnham should scrap it. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
UK’s public spending watchdog to investigate Lower Thames Crossing project
Exclusive: Campaigners voice concerns over rising costs of £11bn Essex to Kent road tunnel
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
When will ministers & Labour MPs leave X? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Elon Musk’s family foundation took Tommy Robinson to Russia, says Musk’s father
Errol Musk says far-right activist is ‘a fine young man’ and held meetings with Russian business figures
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
It's good to see this from Andy Burnham. Instead of uncritically fixating on the % of GDP spent on defence, we need to debate what we're defending & how, what the threats are & whether we're getting value for money (spoiler: we're not).
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Shaun Spiers @shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Peter Apps is spot on. Developers and credulous think tanks mither on about about planning as the sole reason we don't build enough new homes. There needs to be more of a focus on "fixing our broken housing market", to quote the title of the 2017 housing white paper.
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