By Martin Banks - 20th April 2009
My words were taken completely out of context
Caroline Lucas
UK Greens MEP Caroline Lucas has angrily hit back at claims that she said air travel is "as bad as stabbing a person the street".
Lucas, one of the UK's most prominent MEPs, says she was "massively misrepresented" by the UK Independence Party (UKIP) over her alleged comments.
"My words were taken completely out of context and I am furious about it," she told this website.
The row flared after Lucas took part in a debate on British TV about plans for a proposed third runway at Heathrow airport near London.
Others taking part were UK Conservative MEP Roger Helmer and David Campbell-Bannerman, a prospective MEP candidate for UKIP.
After the discussion, Campbell-Bannerman accused Lucas of using "extremist language to describe ordinary people going by plane to a well-earned holiday."
His attack, widely reported in the UK press, came after the UK's ITV channel aired their Leaders of Europe debate on 4 April.
Lucas, leader of the Green Party in the UK, said, "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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