"It is one thing to lose a job because of a recession or a downturn in the market, but to lose a job because of the new European Union rules on carbon trading is obscene." That is the verdict of one of Nick Griffin's Lancashire constituents after Hanson Cement announced it was axing 30 jobs in Clitheroe. 

Bosses at Hanson Cement have cut the jobs because the company is reducing its UK production by one-third. The company currently supplies 25% of the UK demand for cement and employs around 240 people in Clitheroe. Two years ago Hanson shut the historic Accrington Brick factory with the loss of 83 jobs.

The new EU carbon trading scheme - which charges industries such as oil refineries, power stations and steel works for CO2 emissions - means it makes economic sense to move production out of Europe.

Nick Griffin MEP said that he was disappointed to hear of the redundancies at the Ribblesdale works. He said: "In the current economic climate, it is a terrible blow to lose your job, because the chances of securing another one in a rapidly shrinking employment sector are becoming increasingly remote.

“In times of recession, job losses are inevitable, but the 30 redundancies at Hanson Cement are the direct consequence of unnecessary and punitive EU-imposed regulations, and that makes it an even more bitter pill to swallow.” 

Mr Griffin said he believes that the global warming scam is being used to de-industrialise Britain through the imposition of impossible environmental targets.

The climate change lobby claims that the carbon trading scheme cuts carbon emissions and will save the planet, but the reality is somewhat different, Mr Griffin said. “Carbon trading is a money-making scam that enriches big business and the banks, at the taxpayers’ expense. A scam, moreover, that will have a devastating effect on the jobs market and the ability of Britain to sustain any heavy industry,” he said.

The European Union introduced the carbon trading scheme in 2005, providing companies with an allocation of carbon permits based on their past emissions record. Oil companies, as major polluters, were given the lion’s share of the permits while public services were left at the bottom of the pile.

This meant that when companies like Shell and BP trimmed their emissions, they could cash in on selling their permits to the public sector, such as NHS hospitals. In that first year of carbon trading, Shell made a profit of £50 million and BP a profit of £43 million, while Britain’s hospitals made a loss of nearly £6 million.

When big business and the banks make money, it is the man in the street who has to foot the bill, whether through increased tax payments or the loss of their jobs.

The climate change charade encourages private and foreign-owned industry to move their operations from Britain to places like India and China where there are no environmental controls in existence.

The Indian steel giant Tata provides a clear example of this. In 2007, Tata bought out Corus, the last remnants of Britain’s once all-conquering steel industry, for £6 billion. Less than three years later, due to the huge profits available from carbon trading, Tata pulled the plug on its plant in Redcar and moved production to India. Tata cashed in to the tune of £1.2 billion on its carbon trading permits as it waved goodbye to its entire British workforce.

Nick Griffin warns that the carbon trading scheme is just one aspect of a whole programme of EU ‘Climate Change’ initiatives that are now coming into effect in the UK. Compliance with the various schemes is predicted to cost British taxpayers £18 billion, so, while big business is basking in its carbon trading bonanza at the expense of British industry, the pain inflicted on ordinary British families is intensifying.

Britain's cement industry is the cleanest and most efficient in the world, and it must be protected so that it does not go the same way as our coal industry.