A Labour Party MP’s poorly worded tweet has gone viral for its shocking insinuation.
Claudia Webbe, the Labour Party MP for Leicester East, juxtaposed her opinion that the world was overpopulated with the idea that the rich must be “abolished”.
This led to some people suggesting that Ms Webbe was calling for a cull of the wealthy.
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Following this tweet, Ms Webbe clarified that her attack on the wealthy was due to their contributing a disproportionate amount to carbon emissions.
Claudia Webbe had originally written on Twitter:
Earth is overpopulated; there are too many rich people
To solve the climate crisis; the rich must be abolished
— Claudia Webbe MP (@ClaudiaWebbe) April 13, 2021
She later tweeted in a thread:
“Richest 1% in UK produce 11 times the carbon emissions of poorest 50%. Richest 10% of the world’s population produced 52% of all consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions. Eliminating energy and resource intensive lifestyles of the richest would by far rapidly reduce emissions”.
Richest 1% in UK produce 11 times the carbon emissions of poorest 50%.
Richest 10% of the world’s population produced 52% of all consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions.
Eliminating energy and resource intensive lifestyles of the richest would by far rapidly reduce emissions
— Claudia Webbe MP (@ClaudiaWebbe) April 13, 2021
Confronting carbon inequality
▪️Richest 10% (c.630 million people) were responsible for 52% of carbon emissions –depleting the global carbon budget by nearly a third (31%)
▪️Poorest 50% (c.3.1 billion people) were responsible for just 7% of emissions, used just 4% of budget
— Claudia Webbe MP (@ClaudiaWebbe) April 13, 2021
