Global warming ignorance

According to a National Trust report 100 miles of the Welsh coast in its care is at risk of flooding and erosion over the next century.

Ivan Huws, National Trust director, said: "Over the next few decades, flooding and erosion caused by sea level rise and more frequent storms appears inevitable. No-one in Wales is more than 50 miles from the shore, and tourism is particularly dependent on our wonderful coast."

By contrast, in a speech to business leaders, Labour leader Rhodri Morgan is reported to have said that it will "hardly be unhelpful" to the Welsh economy if global warming gives Wales a Spanish or Californian climate.

He told an audience of business people that a warmer Wales would have a competitive edge over other parts of Britain.

"If our climate in Wales is going to be more like Spain's or southern California's in the summer, then Spain will be more like the Sahara," he said. "If that is the kind of climate shift we cannot avoid having by 2050, it is hardly going to be unhelpful to Wales's competitive position."

Rhodri Morgan's ignorant and complacent attitude to the effects of climate change is in stark contrast to the NT and explains why carbon emissions are now higher than when Labour took office in 1997.

Rhodri Morgan needs to take a lead from King Canute who realised he couldn't command the ocean to retreat.

John Bell, Conservative Welsh Assembly Candidate for Clwyd South, Llangollen