UKIP accuses Lucas of 'bending the truth' in air travel row

UKIP has demanded Caroline Lucas consider her position as Green Party leader as the row over her alleged comments comparing air travel to knife crime continues.

David Campbell-Bannerman, UKIP deputy leader and east of England candidate, accused the UK Greens MEP of trying to "bend the truth" and called on her to apologise for her comments.

Lucas, asked in a British TV debate over a proposed third runway at Heathrow airport, whether flying was as bad as knifing a person in the street, said, "Yes - because they are dying from climate change."

Campbell-Bannerman, who was also taking part in the discussion, said Lucas had used "extremist language to describe ordinary people going by plane to a well-earned holiday".

His attack was widely reported in the UK press, but Lucas told TheParliament.com on Monday that her comments had been misrepresented by UKIP.

Responding, Campbell-Bannerman said, "Rather than try and bend the truth, I suggest Ms Lucas either apologies quickly and fully for her outrageous remark, or considers her position as leader of the Green Party.

"The context was a debate on aviation, climate change and the Heathrow third runway.

"The remarks themselves were verbatim, and recorded on the ITV programme 'Leaders of Europe'.

"UKIP never suggested that flying was as bad as stabbing someone in the street - Ms Lucas was asked that question for clarity and replied, 'Yes it is! Because people are dying from climate change.'"

'Misrepresented'

Lucas told this website, "My words were taken completely out of context and I am furious about it.

"To suggest, as UKIP has done, that I said air travel is as bad as stabbing a person in the street is ridiculous.

"What I actually said is that just as legislation is required for people who stab people in the street, so laws are needed for things like the massive expansion of airports which can have a huge negative impact on the environment.

"To state that I said anything different is a massive misrepresentation of the truth. I was not referring to hard-working people who may take only one holiday a year."

She said she was talking about the limits to freedom, adding, "Just as society needs to be protected from violence in the streets, so we need to be protected from the impacts of climate change.

"Of course, knifing someone in the street is in a different league from 'binge flying' but both have an adverse effects on members of society. The world's scientists are estimating that climate change is going to kill huge numbers of people in the coming century and many more will be made homeless.

"This is not about individuals flying occasionally, it's far more about a relatively small number of people flying a lot, subsidised by the enormous tax breaks the UK taxpayer gives to the aviation industry."

Lucas, who also accused the media of quoting her out of context, said UKIP was "mischief-making" in the run-up to the European elections in June.

"They are trying to cover themselves because their own party is imploding."

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