I went to the RSPCA’s drop-in event at the House of Commons this week and met Chief Executive Chris Sherwood to hear about its Generation Kind campaign to teach compassion to new generations.
The RSPCA’s research revealed that nearly a quarter of secondary school children have witnessed animal cruelty and neglect on social media, either through posts or video, so Generation Kind is clearly needed.
Queen’s Speech and the need for a Green New Deal
Every day there is new evidence of the increasing scale of the climate emergency.
Yesterday the Met Office Hadley Centre said the wildfires still burning in Australia are "a sign of what would be normal conditions under a future warming world of 3C"
And new scientific analysis shows ocean temperatures have hit a record high as the rate of heating of our planet accelerates.
Yet despite this flood of irrefutable and overwhelming evidence, the UK continues to do far too little, far too late to cut greenhouse gas emissions from every sector of our economy.
We’re less than a month after an election campaign that saw an onslaught of misleading statements and a dramatic slide towards post-truth politics and public debate.
We’re less than a month before the UK formally leaves the EU, even if nobody actually believes that Brexit will be “done” at that point.
This is my first newsletter of 2020 and I want to start by again thanking people for their support and giving me the honour of representing Brighton Pavilion in Parliament. We face a very challenging year with our probable departure from the EU on January 31st and the negotiations over our future relationship with the EU. On top of that are the myriad of national and local issues that I know are so important to you: the NHS, school funding, housing, transport and of course the climate emergency.
Brexit & Parliament
There has been a break in my newsletter during the election period, and this is the last one of the year. So I’m taking a look back at what has been a tumultuous year in politics, beginning with a series of unprecedented Government defeats in Parliament and ending with the first winter general election for nearly 100 years. In between, we’ve seen the fall of a prime minister, the illegal suspension of Parliament and a deepening polarisation of our politics.
A huge thank you to all the candidates, the staff here this evening and to the amazing team who worked on the Green campaign.
And sincere and heartfelt thanks to the people of Brighton Pavilion who have once again granted me the honour of representing them in Parliament.
I feel incredibly proud that my majority has increased because it demonstrates that Brighton Pavilion continues to believe in compassion, justice and a bigger future.
It’s not only extreme weather, rising sea levels, farming and fresh water which will be impacted by the climate emergency. So will people’s health.
Groups of doctors and other health professionals say climate change and health should be front and centre of this election, and they’ve scored each party’s manifesto.
No surprise, the Green Party came out on top with maximum marks in all categories.
I commissioned this report earlier this year to inform the Green Party’s debate and policies on nature. It’s been written by a group of leading UK conservationists and nature writers, Mark Cocker, Jeremy Mynott, Jake Fiennes, Helen Smith and Patrick Barkham.
Being the sole Green MP in Parliament has sometimes felt like a lonely job.
But every time I see young people taking to the streets like you are today I don’t feel lonely.
I feel among hundreds of thousands of friends here in the UK - and millions more across the world - who see the reality of the climate emergency.
And who won’t stop until our political leaders do too.
Things are changing.
Yesterday, for the first time in UK history, we had a general election leaders’ debate on climate change.
Your movement made that possible.
