Molly Scott Cato

Scott Cato in 2016

Sarah Margaret "Molly" Scott Cato (born 21 May 1963) is a British Green politician, academic, environmental and community activist, and green economist who is a current Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the South West England electoral region for the Green Party. She was elected in May 2014, and is the first Green Party MEP to represent the region.

Quotes

2019

• Nuclear weapons are obsolete in an era of asymmetric warfare and cyber warfare and have no placed in a European defence policy for the 21st century. Britain and France have ignored their obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons for far too long.
  • Quoted in CornwallLive. Cornwall and Devon European MP Molly Scott Cato arrested after breaking into US air base in Belgium (20 February 2019)

• UKIP have now crossed a line in terms of what is acceptable behaviour in a democratic society.
  • Quoted in GloucestershireLive. UPDATE: European elections 2019: Molly Scott-Cato pulls out of hustings event at Gloucester Cathedral over UKIP at last minute (17 May 2019)

• The crucial thing about the transition to a carbon-neutral economy is social justice. If you think about why people voted for Brexit, it’s because they felt they were being left behind. Their resentment is being attached to climate denialism, by very irresponsible politicians who whip up resentment caused by austerity. They connect that and say ‘Now you’re telling me I can’t have my car’. But that’s not what we’re saying at all.
  • Said in an interview with the Guardian. Molly Scott Cato: ‘It’s the wealthy who are causing climate change’ (9 July 2019)

• Although President Trump operates like an authoritarian leader, he is actually subject to a system of checks and balances, meaning that Congress, rather than Trump, will decide what sort of trade deal we will have with the US if we proceed with Brexit.
  • Quoted in the Parliament Magazine. MEPs debunk post-Brexit US-UK trade deal (21 August 2019)

• The stakes couldn’t be higher. The burning of the Amazon places the planet on red alert. Bolsonaro is encouraging this torching of the forest to appease his agricultural paymasters so they can use the land for beef cattle and soya. He is guilty of ecocide and politicians across the globe must stand up to this environmental criminal.
  • Quoted in the Morning Star. Green MEP accuses Brazil's Bolsonaro of ‘ecocide’ while Amazon rainforest burns (22 August 2019)

• The mob currently in power are determined to crash us out of the EU on October 31 and will sacrifice everything at the altar of new trade deals. Food safety standards, consumer protections, animal welfare standards will all be ditched if it means securing a trade deal with the US. This will leave our farmers concerned not so much with tackling our climate emergency but with survival against an onslaught from cheap imports.
  • Said in an article for the Stroud News and Journal. OPINION: Stop Brexit to save farmers and the planet says Molly Scott Cato (24 August 2019)

• You should not be able to be thrown out of your home of 30 years because you can’t find documents you never knew you would have to keep
  • Said in a tweet on 25 August 2019

2020

• Now is not the time to campaign to rejoin but we must keep the dream alive, especially for young people who are overwhelmingly pro-European. I hold in my heart the knowledge that one day I will be back in this [the European Parliament] chamber, celebrating our return to the heart of Europe.
  • Said in a speech to the European Parliament after she voted against ratifying the UK's Brexit withdrawl agreement. Molly Scott Cato: 'One day I will be back' (29 January 2020)