A tense row over Labour’s environmental plans kicked off on GB News as activist Donnachadh McCarthy argued Sir Keir Starmer is not going far enough.
He argued Britons should cut their meat consumption drastically in order to avert climate fears - a claim strongly refuted by People’s Channel hosts Nana Akua and Ben Leo.
“A very simple thing viewers can do is reduce the amount of meat we eat”, he said. A comment that left Ben and Nana dismayed.
“Oh come on”, Nana responded, before McCarthy argued: “A plant-based diet uses a third of the land compared to a meat-based diet.
Nana Akua clashed with Donnachadh McCarthy
GB NEWS
“It’s healthier and a third of Britain is already doing it.”
Nana hit back: “That’s just nonsense. It’s all very well thinking that we’re all going to be munching on plants, but the reality is, you’re going to need more of these plants and more space, more land and more soy to create these things.”
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Donnachadh McCarthy joined Nana Akua and Ben Leo on GB News
GB NEWS
McCarthy responded by acknowledging that “of course” more land will be used to keep up with plant-based demand, but argued it will still just use a third of that taken up by the meat industry.
“If we all stopped eating meat, you would need a massive amount of space to keep up with demand”, Nana said.
McCarthy refuted the argument put forward by the GB News star, telling her she “doesn’t understand”, a claim angrily slapped down by Nana.
“The amount of land taken by the meat industry is enormous”, he added, before Nana claimed humans are “carnivores” and therefore eating a meat-based diet is the healthiest option.
Keir Starmer's government has unveiled its environmental plans
PA
High street chains like Greggs are embracing the vegan movement by offering more plant based alternativesPANana’s co-host, Ben Leo, waded in to argue the climate debate is often “diluted” by groups like Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion and therefore “genuine” issues are put on the “back burner”.
He claimed trees are being chopped down at an exponential rate in order to deal with the increased demand for wind farms.
This week, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed, announced his five priorities for the Labour Government to tackle on X, formerly Twitter.
Reed said: “It is a huge honour that the Prime Minister has appointed me Secretary of State for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.
“This comes at a time when we are facing a crisis point. We have record levels of sewage in our rivers, lakes and seas. Nature is dying. Confidence amongst farmers is the lowest on record.
“It will take years to reverse that damage that’s been done, but the work of change has now begun.”