Sammy Wilson, a protestant in the Democratic Unionist Party, said he believes the world’s climate is cooling, not warming, so the British government’s “Act on CO2� campaign is hogwash, reported the Associated Press and the Belfast Telegraph.
“I dispute the theory, and it is only a theory, that the world is warming due to CO2 emissions and other human activity,� Wilson wrote on his Website. “Government policy and decision making has been heavily influenced by the green lobby, which I believe has been detrimental to the British economy. Green taxes have been levied on business and families, in the guise of promoting green behaviour, but in reality they have been stealth taxes which have hampered economic growth and made it harder for people to prosper.�
Although North Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, the local Protestant-Catholic power sharing government apparently has a lot of autonomy. Not only that, individual ministers have a lot of control over how policies are carried out, even if they face strong opposition from the rest of the four-party coalition, according to the AP.
Wilson’s own party actually supports efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
