A Reform UK-led council has rescinded its climate emergency declaration as it revokes its net-zero pledge.
Durham County Council passed a motion removing a declaration made in 2019, and is instead pushing to support vulnerable children in the area.
Deputy Council leader Darren Grimes said: “We’ve been chasing eco-fantasies while our children suffer in a broken system cooked up by Westminster’s underfunding and box-ticking bureaucrats.
“The National Audit Office calls the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) setup ‘financially unsustainable’ – a national scandal where real-terms funding per child has been slashed by 35 per cent over the last decade, leaving councils like ours staring down the barrel of bankruptcy.
Cllr Grimes pictured with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage
“And with a cliff-edge in 20 months when the Government’s accounting gimmick ends, 43 per cent of English councils could go bust. Enough of the net-zero lunacy; it’s time to redirect every penny to our kids, lobby for fair funding, and tell our North East neighbours to drop the vanity eco posturing and join the fight.”
The move by the Reform Council stated that the rate of children in care in the North East is at 114 per 10,000 – 44 more than the national average for England.
Campaigners gathered outside Durham County Hall opposing the proposal, with banners telling council leaders to “get your heads out of the sand”.
One young campaigner held a sign reading: “If you care…allow me to have a future.”
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Liberal Democrat Mark Wilkes called the move by Reform “cynical and insulting”, given the council had saved £13million in the past year.
The previous council environment pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2045.
Wilkes claimed that social care issues have “nothing whatsoever to do with climate change”.
He said: “It is our young people who are going to be most impacted by climate change, and indeed, the savings we have been making off the back of our action on the climate, including energy efficiency measures, is actually helping us to protect frontline social care services.”
Some 62 Reform councillors voted to approve the motion
Some 62 Reform councillors voted to approve the motion, while seven from other parties voted against. There were 17 abstentions and 12 councillors were not present at the meeting, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.
Green Party councillor, Jonathan Elmer, said: “If councillor Grimes really cared about SEND provision, he’d have brought this motion without reference to climate change.
“He’d have worked for cross-party consensus on it, he’d have looked to get ideas and input on how to improve the lives of SEND kids in County Durham from across this chamber.
“But instead, he’s stoked controversy and division. Undoubtedly, many people will conclude it’s the controversy that he really cares about.”