Vulpix
04-14-2009, 02:18 PM
Air travel 'as bad as stabbing person in the street', says MEP (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1169862/Air-travel-bad-stabbing-person-street-says-MEP.html)
A leading politician has sparked outrage by comparing people who fly to Spain on holiday with knife-wielding criminals.
Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Green Party, suggested that travellers who regularly jet off to the Costas are threatening the lives of others - and do as much damage as thugs who stab people in the street.
Ms Lucas, who is also a Member of the European Parliament, made the controversial comment during a televised ITV debate about plans for a proposed third runway at Heathrow. She also hit out ‘binge flying’ and people who have second homes abroad.
When asked if flying to Spain was as bad as knifing a person in the street, Ms Lucas said: ‘Yes - because they are dying from climate change.’
Ms Lucas also claimed that poor air quality makes Britain ‘the dirty old man of Europe’, saying that London’s air quality levels are so low they breach European safety standards.
After the exchange David Campbell-Bannerman a prospective MEP candidate for the UK Independence Party, who also attended the debate, said: 'I was shocked.
'There's no excuse for using extremist language to describe ordinary people going by plane to a well-earned holiday. Calling it "binge flying" is absurd.'
Ms Lucas began her career as an activist in the anti-nuclear movement with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and went on to become one of the Green Party's first MEP's.
She has been a staunch critic of the proposed third runway at Heathrow and has fiercely opposed the government's aviation policy.
A Green Party spokesman said the comments have been taken out of context.
This how a lunatic looks like:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/04/14/article-1169862-0471DB8E000005DC-969_468x286.jpg
Caroline Lucas has been a fierce opponent of the proposed third runway at Heathrow...
A leading politician has sparked outrage by comparing people who fly to Spain on holiday with knife-wielding criminals.
Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Green Party, suggested that travellers who regularly jet off to the Costas are threatening the lives of others - and do as much damage as thugs who stab people in the street.
Ms Lucas, who is also a Member of the European Parliament, made the controversial comment during a televised ITV debate about plans for a proposed third runway at Heathrow. She also hit out ‘binge flying’ and people who have second homes abroad.
When asked if flying to Spain was as bad as knifing a person in the street, Ms Lucas said: ‘Yes - because they are dying from climate change.’
Ms Lucas also claimed that poor air quality makes Britain ‘the dirty old man of Europe’, saying that London’s air quality levels are so low they breach European safety standards.
After the exchange David Campbell-Bannerman a prospective MEP candidate for the UK Independence Party, who also attended the debate, said: 'I was shocked.
'There's no excuse for using extremist language to describe ordinary people going by plane to a well-earned holiday. Calling it "binge flying" is absurd.'
Ms Lucas began her career as an activist in the anti-nuclear movement with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and went on to become one of the Green Party's first MEP's.
She has been a staunch critic of the proposed third runway at Heathrow and has fiercely opposed the government's aviation policy.
A Green Party spokesman said the comments have been taken out of context.
This how a lunatic looks like:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/04/14/article-1169862-0471DB8E000005DC-969_468x286.jpg
Caroline Lucas has been a fierce opponent of the proposed third runway at Heathrow...