Daily Research News Online no. 3168 - MPs Acknowledge Environmental Threat

MPs Acknowledge Environmental Threat

June 1 2004

A recent claim by the Government's chief scientist Sir David King - that global warming poses a greater threat to the world than terrorism - strikes a chord with a majority of British MPs, according to new research from BPRI. More than 60% say the threat to the environment is as great a threat as, or a greater threat than global terrorism.

Reasons for this vary, but a common view is that terrorism does not affect everyone, whereas environmental changes are long-term and therefore the consequences will be far more devastating. MPs from all parties strike a similar theme:

'Currently terrorism is a priority for all Governments. But I suspect that the threat to the environment is the longer term danger. Yet little priority is being given to addressing the environmental problems that will loom large in the latter part of the century'.

'The impression I have is that if we don't take environmental issues seriously, there could be permanent danger to the future of mankind on earth. Terrorism, by comparison, although very serious, seems unlikely to impose permanent problems' (Conservative MP)

'These things are difficult to compare, but there are levels of destruction to the environment which, for successive generations, could inflict more death and injury than any terrorist attack' (Liberal Democrat MP)

BPRI, a research led consulting practice within the WPP Group, interviewed 100 MPs during April 2004. The 100 are a representative sample of the composition of the House and part of the BPRI Political Opinion Panel. The overall spread of opinion is shown below:

Which one statement do you agree with most?	% agreeing
The threat to the environment is more of a threat to the world than global terrorism	25
The threat to the environment is as much a threat to the world as global terrorism	36
The threat to the environment is less of a threat to the world than global terrorism	36