Climate and Nature Bill

Nadia Whittome Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 24th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Nadia Whittome (Nottingham East) (Lab)]

The climate and nature crises are the defining test of our era and, therefore, of our Government. As a co-sponsor of the Bill, and having co-sponsored it in previous iterations when Caroline Lucas, the former Member for Brighton Pavilion, first brought it to the House, I have seen throughout my time here the importance of working cross-party. That does not mean that we agree on everything, or that opposition Members or Labour Back Benchers cannot forcefully hold our Government to account; it means that we need to prioritise what materially is best for dealing with the climate and nature emergency.

I have called, and will continue to call, my party out when it is not going far enough or even getting things wrong, but I will also fight tooth and nail for transitional demands in the pursuit of tackling the climate and ecological emergency. I know the hon. Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage) will say herself that the measures in the Bill are not the ceiling of what we want to achieve, but the floor. As she said in her opening speech, the Bill is not a silver bullet. We are now working towards getting the concessions from the Government they have already committed to, holding them to account, pushing them to go further, and taking action up to and beyond what this Bill asks for.

I do not want to sacrifice the transitional demands that we have won as a result of pressure in negotiation, not just from MPs—in fact, perhaps we have played the smallest role—but from campaigners, who have been pushing us to push Ministers and the Government. I am not willing to sacrifice the transitional demands that we could win for climate and nature—today, right now—and that we could hold the Government to account on delivering, in order to have a vote that would mean we lose those demands. I care about the material—that is why I am in Parliament.

[Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)]

Given that we have strong cross-party consensus, as has been demonstrated today, on the urgency of tackling the climate and nature crisis, I do not understand the hon. Lady’s argument that the Government would somehow draw back from measures that they have committed, in negotiation with the hon. Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage), to take forward. A number of hon. Members think that it is important to vote on a Bill that will help move us further and faster towards tacking the climate and nature crisis. As my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol Central (Carla Denyer) explained, Second Reading is an opportunity to further discuss the issues and build cross-party consensus on exactly the measures needed. Will she explain why a vote on the Bill is not a good idea—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Order. I have a long list of speakers to call.

[Nadia Whittome]

I have every respect for the hon. Member and her Green party colleagues. I am not here to answer on behalf of the Government; I am here to hold the Government to account, which is what I will be doing. I am also here to win material change on climate, economic and social justice. That will be what drives my strategy.

With Trump’s election in the US, his Government of billionaires, for billionaires, and his frenzied pursuit of fossil fuels, it is more important now than ever that we do not pander to his climate denialism and that the UK plays a leading role in mitigating the climate crisis, restoring nature and adapting to the impacts that those emergencies are causing. Our lives, especially the lives of younger generations, will be blighted by those twin crises. In recent months, we have seen fires raging through California, storm after storm batter the UK, and devastating flooding from Thailand to Spain. If this is now, imagine the extreme weather events we could be seeing in 20, 40 or 60 years.

Earlier this month, the UN Secretary-General reiterated that

“global emissions must peak this year and rapidly decline thereafter if we are to have a sliver of a hope of limiting long-term global temperature rise to 1.5°C.”

I welcome the positive and vital steps that our Government have already taken on environmental issues in their first six months, on home-grown clean power, stopping new fossil fuel projects, cleaning up our filthy rivers, providing public transport and retrofitting homes. However, we all recognise—I am sure Ministers themselves recognise—that we must go further still, which is what the measures in the Bill are all about, ensuring that we reduce carbon emissions at the speed and scale required, and that we take the steps necessary to fight the climate and nature emergency, which are intertwined crises that cannot be tackled in silo.

The campaign behind the Climate and Nature Bill has been phenomenal. I am very proud to have played a small part as one the co-sponsors of the Bill and its previous iteration, the Climate and Ecology (No. 2) Bill. I thank the Zero Hour campaign and the thousands of people who have pushed for the Bill over many years, from climate scientists to academics to medical professionals, and every other person who has raised their voice for the future of the planet, including many in Nottingham East. It is because of them, including those in the Public Gallery and outside, that the Bill has been backed by around 200 MPs, including 90 Labour Members. I also thank those who have sponsored previous versions of the Bill, such as my hon. Friends the Members for Sheffield Hallam (Olivia Blake) and for Leeds Central and Headingley (Alex Sobel), former Member Caroline Lucas, and most recently the hon. Member for South Cotswolds. She has worked tirelessly to get us to this point, to push for the measures in the Bill, and to engage with the Government. Thanks to her hard work, we have won commitments from the Government on which all co-sponsors, particularly those on the Labour Benches, will be holding them to account.

As I have already said, these measures are not the sum total of what the climate and nature crises require of us. There is so much further for us to go, but I am hopeful that today will be the beginning, or rather the continuation of a journey that sees our Government work with campaigners for the Bill to take the action that we need. It is said again and again that politics is about choices, and there is no more important choice than our very future. We have to choose to serve the interests of people in the UK and across the globe, and stand up to the wealthy and powerful, who are determined to enrich themselves at the expense of people and our planet.

[Several hon. Members rose—]