WESTON has never had a steelworks or a power station, and the closest we’ve come to an oil refinery was the ‘See Monster’ retired oil rig at the Tropicana last year.
But, as a seaside town, we’re just as vulnerable to the rising sea levels and global warming which their carbon emissions create as anyone else.
If we had one of those big manufacturing plants, we’d all be worried sick whether its well-paid, high-skill manufacturing jobs could survive the effects of spiralling energy prices too.
There are lots of other, highly-subsidised imports from factories in countries that aren’t as clean and green as we are, which will drive British firms out of business because they don’t have to worry about the same net zero standards which we do.
It’s short-sighted because they will suffer from the same rising sea levels as Weston, but in the short term their jobs will be safer than ours.
There’s no point in letting high-carbon industries in the UK shut down if the factories just move abroad and carry on emitting CO2 somewhere else.
That just makes Britain poorer because all those jobs will be gone, but our seafront will still flood either way.
How can we keep British manufacturing and exports alive, but still go green so Weston’s homes aren’t flooded every time there’s a storm?
The answer is something called a ‘Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism’ which I’ve been working on, leading a cross-party group of MPs who are interested in fixing the problem.
It would level the playing field for British industry by putting a price on carbon-intensive goods entering the UK; stop ungreen countries from driving cleaner UK firms out of business; save those high-skill UK manufacturing jobs and help British firms find the cheapest and most economically-efficient route to Net Zero too.
I recently pushed Ministers about it in Parliament and they’ve confirmed they like the idea.
So, with any luck, we can save British manufacturing jobs and keep Weston safe and dry at the same time.
What’s to dislike?