A bid for Cornwall Council to show its support for a bill which would have strengthened the UK’s response to climate change has been foiled by Conservative councillors.

Councillor Andrew George had put forward a motion to Cornwall Council today calling for councillors to support the Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) Bill.

This bill would require the government to draw up a strategy which would address the emergency and take action to tackle climate change.

Other local authorities, including Devon County Council, have already given their support to the bill and Cllr George hoped that Cornwall Council would follow.

The Liberal Democrat councillor’s motion had received support from across the council chamber with Labour, Mebyon Kernow, Green and Independent councillors all offering support.

However an amendment to the motion was put forward by Conservative councillor Louis Gardner which removed the support for the CEE Bill and instead to press MPs to support the Government’s Environment Bill.

Cllr Gardner said that by supporting the Environment Bill would help to bring the council together behind work which was already being done.

Cllr George said that while the Environment Bill was laudable it was only offering targets and highlighted that it had already received support from the House of Commons and was currently going through the House of Lords.

He said that it was “perverse” to have a motion calling for MPs to support a bill which they have already supported.

Cllr George said that the CEE Bill was looking to go further than the Environment Bill and had support from a number of scientists and climate change experts.

The former MP said he was “very disappointed” with Cllr Gardner’s amendment. He said: “The proposal of the bill which I have proposed that we support, the CEE Bill, is being presented by environment scientists and academics, they wouldn’t have brought it forward if they thought the Environment Bill was sufficient.”

Green councillor Tamsyn Widdon, who seconded Cllr George’s motion, said he thought that there was a misunderstanding among Conservative councillors about the CEE Bill.

She highlighted that the bill was supported by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust which had been named at the start of the meeting to be the council chairman’s charity of the year.

Cllr Widdon said that the CEE Bill went further than the Environment Bill and was much stronger in the way it sets out actions which would be taken.

Labour councillor Jayne Kirkham said: “We set very high standards in this council, we were the first large rural authority to declare a climate emergency. Virtually the whole chamber was in support of that.”

She said that it was important for the council to continue to set high standards and push action on climate change “further and faster”.

Cllr Gardner’s amendment was supported by a majority of councillors but was replaced after Edwina Hannaford proposed that the motion be changed so that the council would support both the Environment Bill and the CEE Bill.

That amendment was accepted by Cllr George but when put to the vote was lost with 33 votes in favour, 39 against and five abstentions.

Speaking afterwards Cllr George said: “We of course welcome the Conservatives’ recent change of heart and their backing of ambitions to combat climate change. But declaring ambitions and delivering policy change are two very different things. As the Government’s own Climate Change Committee has warned the PM just last month. 

“The Conservatives chose not to support scores of other local authorities including Conservative run authorities like Devon which passed motions urging local MPs to back the CEE Bill and to press the Government to take action.

“It’s bizarre to see the Conservatives place their desire to score tribal points above loyalty to their own party legislation.”

Cllr Widdon said: “The Conservative Party members revealed their absolute inability to think critically today. By rejecting the CEE they were clearly rejecting – the move to take bold action urgently to keep temperature rises below 1.5, effectively accepting climate change, rather than trying to prevent climate and ecological catastrophe; the inclusion of large infrastructure projects in the ‘net gain’ for nature obligations, meaning that big value contracts will be exempt from delivering on ‘nature recovery’ targets; public involvement (through the climate assembly as proposed by the CEE Bill), thereby risking policy being driven by the influence of the powerful only.

“There are no good reasons to reject the CEE Bill. Why did they?”