The following is an opinion piece from this week's SNJ (Nov 7) written by Green MEP and Stroud resident Molly Scott Cato.

Ahead of this year’s budget the Green Party issued a challenge to the chancellor: we said it would fail if a single pound was spent on climate wrecking projects.

So did Mr Hammond pass this test?

It will come as no surprise that he failed spectacularly.

What we witnessed was billions of pounds splashed on climate wreckage, yet not a single mention of climate change.

This despite the fact that climate scientists warned just a few weeks ago that we have only a 12-year window to make ‘urgent and unprecedented changes’ to our economy and society in order to limit global warming to 1.5⁰C.

But rather than action to avert climate breakdown we saw the chancellor accelerate faster towards it, throwing £30bn at road building and freezing fuel duty for the ninth year running.

This effectively now amounts to a £9bn tax give-away a year, enough to reverse all Conservative benefit cuts of the past eight years.

There was also a sneaky £3bn tax break for oil and gas companies in the North Sea, through the removal of ‘tax barriers’ to investment. Compare these eye-watering sums to the pittance given towards the environment - just £60m to plant a few trees.

This budget was not just an assault on our climate, it was also, yet again, a hugely missed economic opportunity.

This could have been a budget to turbo charge the idea of the ‘Western Powerhouse’, offering support and incentives to exploit the huge potential for renewable energy resources across the South West.

Off-shore and on-shore wind, solar, tidal and thermal power could provide for all the region’s energy needs and create over one hundred thousand jobs.

The government need to be placed in special measures when it comes to climate change.

A prosperous green future – which would be safer and healthier for all – is perfectly achievable.

What stands in our way is a political system and vested interests that benefit from the status quo.

Given this, and the fact we face a climate emergency, we must do all we can, including peaceful direct action where necessary, to safeguard our planet for future generations.