Ever wondered how much your MP actually cares about climate change? Then have we got something just for you! Introducing Talking Won’t Cut It: Your MP’s Climate Record, a new website created by the UKYCC Community team, tracking the voting records of MPs on climate issues.
Going back as far as the 2008 Climate Change Act, we have tracked whether MPs voted for, against or were absent on a number of different climate-related votes, and whether the MP is a supporter of the Divest Parliament Campaign. We picked these votes as our team felt they were examples where MPs could most clearly demonstrate their commitment to tackling climate change.
The MP’s voting record is then scored and rated Red, Amber or Green based on their voting record. MPs with a Red score will have voted most often against measures to tackle climate change, whereas MPs with a Green score will have voted mostly for climate change legislation. MPs with an Amber score will have voted for a mixture of both, or may have had a high number of absences. We have tried to account for the fact that some MPs were only elected in the December 2019 election and consequently haven’t had many opportunities to vote on climate-related bills. Some MPs may have been absent due to other commitments; for many the English Votes for English Laws procedure led to absences.
The website features a chart listing all MPs voting records, as well as individual profiles for each MP as shown below. A full chart listing all MPs can be downloaded on the website.
You can also find your MP on the map, which is colour-coded depending on the MPs voting record.
The colours on the map show that a lot of our MPs need to do much more when it comes to climate change. Overall, we have found that a majority of MPs (52%) came out with a Red score, showing that our elected representatives have clearly not been doing enough to tackle climate change. Only 13% of MPs came out with a Green score, with most parties having a majority of either Red or Amber MPs. Across all parties, more needs to be done by our politicians to legislate for a greener future.
So what can we do with this information?
Find your MP on the website and see how they rank. If they scored Red or Amber, email them and ask them to do better. If they got a Green score, tweet them to say thanks and keep up the good work! Ask your MP to support the Divest Parliament Campaign, or to campaign for a Green New Deal to create a better post-COVID future. If your MP works in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, or the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, ask what they are doing to tackle climate change. Let your MP know why climate change is important to you and ask them to do more for our future.
Look up your MP’s climate record on the website here: https://helloukycc.wixsite.com/mps-climate-record
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