A narrow defeat, but the fight for a clean power target goes on

Oliver Hayes

06 June 2013

Earlier this week I went to Parliament to watch MPs vote on how the UK should power itself for the coming decades.

Nerves were running high as I made my way into the public gallery along with other Friends of the Earth staff and local group volunteers. More than a year's work was about to reach a pivotal moment for everyone involved in the Clean British Energy campaign.

Would the blood, sweat, and tears all be worth it? Would a clean power target get voted into the Government's Energy Bill?

After hours of debate - in which the case for a clean power target was forcefully made by MPs on all sides - we finally got to the vote.

It was incredibly close, but the Government - which opposes such a target - managed to scrape home with a small majority of just 23 votes.

While most Conservatives voted against the proposal as predicted, the big disappointment was seeing the Lib Dem leadership completely fail to stand by its own party policy to introduce a clean power target. All the way through this campaign Nick Clegg's silence has been deafening. Now the Lib Dems who voted against will have some explaining to do.

But there was a real note of excitement when we learned of the size of the rebellion from backbenchers.

16 Liberal Democrats - almost half of their backbenchers - and 8 Conservatives did defy the Government by voting in favour of a clean power target. It was just about the biggest rebellion since the tuition fees saga in 2010. Each one of these 24 MPs deserves praise for standing up for green jobs and action on climate change.

So where have we got to, and where do we go next? We've made massive gains thanks to everyone who's helped - tens of thousands emailed their MP, hundreds more met them in person. And there's been loads of local press coverage to boot, as Friends of the Earth groups worked with local businesses to raise awareness.

The issue isn't about to go away. The Bill heads to the House of Lords later this month where there's a real chance Peers will overrule the Government and adopt a clean power target.

I'm hugely heartened by the difference we have made. At the outset nobody was talking about decarbonising UK power; now it seems almost inevitable.

Ollie Hayes, Campaigner, Political and Legal Unit

To see if your MP voted in favour and take action, visit our Map of Green Britain and click on your constituency.