Green Ed’s £230k from heiress of Tetra Pak billions
Critics accuse packaging giant of clogging up the world’s landfill sites
LABOUR’S green champion Ed Miliband has accepted a £230,000 donation from the billionaire family behind the Tetra Pak empire – the producers of packaging partially responsible for clogging up landfill sites all over the world.
Mr Miliband, the Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change, is receiving almost £20,000 a month from Lisbet Rausing, the granddaughter of Tetra Pak’s co-founder. The money will pay for staff in his office until the General Election.
Reports of the donation have emerged amid new Labour infighting over the party’s pledge to borrow £28billion to invest in green jobs and industry. Four weeks ago, Mr Miliband insisted Sir Keir Starmer was ‘absolutely clear’ in being committed to the policy, and that people shouldn’t ‘believe everything you read in the newspapers’.
However, The Guardian has now reported that Sir Keir and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves will meet next month to decide whether or not to drop the flagship policy.
The move has been advised by Labour Election strategists who say it offers an easy attack line for the Tories, who will accuse the party of being profligate with taxpayers’ money. Ms Reeves has already qualified the original pledge by saying that it will be fulfilled only if it fits with her fiscal rules.
The Guardian quoted an insider as saying: ‘There will be a pivot in the new year and the £28billion price tag... is unlikely to survive. Whatever ultimately happens will be a further watering down of the position. This will be the Tories’ number one area of attack so they need to deal with it.’
Ditching the plan would leave Sir Keir open to fresh claims that he ‘flipflops’. It would also be embarrassing for Mr Miliband, who has expended much political capital defending the policy as part of Labour’s commitment to ‘sustainability’, including recycling. Critics have pointed out that although Tetra Pak claims its products – such as milk cartons – are ‘100 per cent recyclable’, this is only the case if the recyclers use special equipment to separate the complex combination of polyethylene, paper and aluminium. As many recycling companies don’t have the required machinery, three-quarters of Tetra Pak products are simply thrown away instead.
An article earlier this year by the sustainability firm Fifty Shades Greener argued: ‘Tetra Pak is... responsible for 3 in 4 items they produce ending up in landfill, on beaches and polluting the oceans... Due to considerations like specialised machinery, lengthy transport distances and materials generating little money when recycled, only 16 per cent of all beverage cartons get recycled in the US, and in Vietnam only one recycler accepts Tetra Pak. [This] is resulting in the majority of it littering streets, parks, beaches or ending up in landfill.’
Lisbet Rausing’s grandfather Ruben Rausing co-founded the company in Sweden in 1951. The combined worth of her mother, her two siblings and herself is estimated at just under £10billion.
A Labour spokesman said: ‘We are pleased to have the support of Lisbet Rausing, a climate philanthropist who supports many good causes. This will support Labour’s plan to cut bills, create jobs, and ensure energy security and climate leadership.’