Constituents launch election marketing campaign to ‘clear Parliament of local weather deniers’

MP Watch, a grassroots community of constituents that scrutinise MPs and intention to make them extra accountable, has launched its election marketing campaign. The marketing campaign goals to let constituents know if they’ve an MP who denies local weather change exists, so they’re able to vote accordingly.

The campaigners record a number of MPs who’re related to denying the local weather emergency exists, together with Jacob Rees-Mogg, Craig McKinlay, Esther McVey, Mark Jenkinson, Andrea Jenkins, Liz Truss, and Suella Braverman.

On the coronary heart of the marketing campaign launch is a film that lays bare the local weather document of Steve Baker, Conservative MP of Wycombe, who the group describes as “local weather denier primary.”

Baker was first elected as an MP in 2010 and was re-elected in 2019 with only a 4 thousand majority. An ardent Brexiteer, Baker was chair of the pro-Brexit group of MPs, the European Analysis Group (ERG), till he resigned when he was promoted to Brexit minister in 2017. He resigned from the put up a 12 months later, following the resignation of David Davis over considerations concerning the authorities’s technique on Brexit.

The marketing campaign movie was put collectively by local weather activist and filmmaker Man Ducker. One in all a sequence of clips regarding the MP’s historical past on local weather change within the movie refers to how in 2021 Baker grew to become a trustee of the oil-funded local weather sceptic group, World Warming Coverage Basis (GWPF). In September 2022, Baker left the local weather denial group for a ministerial put up in Liz Truss’s authorities, who made him minister of state for Northern Eire, a put up he nonetheless holds at present.

Baker is a number one member of the Internet Zero Scrutiny Group, made up of backbench Conservative MPs, together with former authorities ministers, who oppose most of the authorities’s Internet Zero insurance policies. The marketing campaign movie references a newspaper report about Baker sharing a paper, produced by GWPF, saying that the local weather emergency doesn’t exist.

Baker raised eyebrows this week when, throughout an interview with Victoria Derbyshire on the BBC, he mentioned he wouldn’t cancel his vacation plans for his get together’s common election marketing campaign, regardless of admitting he’ll probably lose his seat.

For over two years, over 50 Wycombe constituents who type Steve Baker Watch, one among a variety of teams inside MP Watch concentrating on particular MPs, have requested Baker to vary his local weather place.

Moderately than softening his place, the MP accused the environmental campaigners of “youngster abuse” and referred to them as “clowns,” which the movie exposes.

Gemma Rogers, co-founder of the Steve Baker Watch, says she hopes the movie will assist seal a victory towards Steve Baker.

“He treats us like mugs,” mentioned the NHS employee. “He thinks he can head off to Westminster and quietly be a part of the climate-denying World Warming Coverage Basis and never clarify it to constituents. Although he was elected on the Conservative manifesto of 2019 which included sticking to the Paris Settlement.

“We expect MPs must be held accountable for his or her actions. And that’s precisely what we’re doing. We’d like him out on the subsequent election and changed by an MP that can really characterize us on local weather,” Rogers added.

MP Watch marketing campaign head Jessica Townsend described the intention of the marketing campaign, as to “clear up parliament on the subsequent election and to lastly eliminate the air pollution of local weather misinformation.”.

“As a rustic, we face pressing threats on local weather and nature. We have to make insurance policies that observe the scientific proof. But at this harmful time, some in Westminster are taking part in politics on the difficulty. Frankly, it beggars’ perception.”

Picture credit score: YouTube screen grab

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