Gordon Brown calls for commemoration of troops

The Prime Minister has said it is time to commemorate the British troops who have died in Afghanistan as he signaled an end to the first phase of Operation Panther’s Claw.

Speaking from Scotland, Gordon Brown praised soldiers who have taken part in the offensive to push back the Taliban.

He acknowledged that it had been a difficult time for the troops but said they had succeeded in protecting thousands of local civilians and people in Britain.

The PM said:

“Now that Operation Panther’s Claw has shown that it can bring success and the first phase of that operation is over, it’s time to commemorate all those soldiers who have given their lives and to thank all our British forces for the determination and professionalism and courage that they’ve shown.

“What we have actually done is make land secure for about 100,000 people. What we’ve done is push back the Taliban - and what we’ve done also is to start to break that chain of terror that links the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan to the streets of Britain. And I’m very proud of what our forces have achieved over the last few weeks - indeed for all the time they’ve been in Afghanistan.”

He said that Britain’s strategy in Afghanistan was still to undertake military offensives to remove insurgents and to build up local institutions to allow the Afghans to take control of their own affairs.

Government sets out “Road to Copenhagen”

World leaders must agree to cut global greenhouse gas emissions by at least half by 2050 when they meet at the Copenhagen climate conference in December, the Government has said.

The Prime Minister said that the clock is ticking and a dramatic cut in emissions levels over the next four decades will be necessary to keep global average temperature increases to two degrees centigrade or less.

The target is one of the goals set out today in the Road to Copenhagen - the Government’s manifesto for the conference.

Gordon Brown said there were two targets nations must agree on. The first is to ensure global emissions peak by 2020 and are cut by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. The second is that developed countries must agree to reduce their emissions by 80% to allow developing countries room for growth.

The PM said:

“An ambitious agreement in Copenhagen is certainly achievable. And yet it remains far from certain. We cannot allow this to drift - when every year of delay retards investment, locks us into a higher emissions pathway, worsens the impacts on the poorest and most vulnerable, and increases the costs of eventual reduction.

“Copenhagen is twenty-three weeks away. When historians look back on this critical moment, let them say, not that we were the generation that failed our children; but that we had the courage, and the will, to succeed.”

The Prime Minister and Energy and Climate Secretary Ed Miliband visited London Zoo this morning to launch the manifesto.

Speaking at the launch, Mr Brown pledged that the UK will play its part in providing financial aid for climate mitigation in the developing world, and urged countries to work together on a global figure of around $100 billion per year by 2020.

He also called for aviation and maritime emissions to be part of the Copenhagen agreement, and for forestry to become part of the carbon trading market in a bid to prevent deforestation.