Romford Recorder Opinion Piece published 14 August 2026.
Words are important. Havering Council’s decision to rescind the Climate Emergency declaration made by the previous Council in 2023 sends an extraordinary message.
The motion was passed this July, a time of unprecedented heatwaves and devastating fires across the UK and Europe. Record numbers of heat-related deaths, largely avoidable, have been recorded. An extreme drought has been declared. Massive crop failures are expected. Climate scientists overwhelming say that the weather we experience now is the least extreme we will experience in our lifetimes, largely due to human activity.
But don’t worry – according to the new Reform-led Council there’s no climate emergency! The 2022 incineration of Wennington village shows Havering, like everywhere, is vulnerable. So, how severe must the threat level be before the Council accepts there is an emergency?
Perhaps they should watch a film of the National Emergency Briefing held at Westminster last November. Experts addressed an audience of MPs, peers and other key decision makers on the climate and nature emergency facing the UK. Events showing the film have since been held over 2000 times at venues around the country. I had the honour of co-chairing one. Anyone interested in informed decision making and action is urged to seek one out.
There are still those who prefer to rubbish the evidence and spread disinformation. They are epitomised by Trump. The science doesn’t suit his agenda, so he sacked the scientists, banned them from attending the latest climate conference and removed their evidence from US Government websites. There are parallels between today’s oil industry and the tobacco industry who recruited pundits to argue no link between smoking and cancer.
Following the motion’s passing the Council Leader spoke about the council’s ongoing commitment to the environment. But the whole point of denying there is an emergency is to avoid taking the urgent steps those with power need to take. Expressing care for the environment carries little weight if it doesn’t acknowledge the scale of the problem. As David Attenborough warns ‘If we don’t take dramatic action, we could face irreversible damage to the natural world and the collapse of our societies.’
Make no mistake, the ideology underlying the council motion is anti-expert and anti-science. It shows reckless disregard for our fragile planet and our health and safety. Perhaps like an inverted ostrich the Leader believes burying the word emergency will make it go away.
Paul Kaufman
Chairperson East London Humanists
