Stronger Climate Change Law supported by main Mayoral Candidates and 33 London MPs

7:30pm on Tuesday 22 April at Friends House, 173 Euston Road London NW1 2BJ

Londoners are invited to debate climate change with Hilary Benn, the man in charge of Government policy on the environment, at a mass public meeting in Central London on Tuesday 22 April 2008.

The debate, which is being organised by Friends of the Earth and Stop Climate Chaos, will take place as MPs prepare to debate and vote on the Government's new Climate Change Law.

Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will be joined by Conservative and Liberal democrat counterparts, Peter Ainsworth and Steve Webb to debate the new law for the first time. It will also be the Environment Secretary's first public opportunity to respond to amendments made to the Law in the Lords [1].

The law is a ground-breaking piece of legislation but it needs to be strengthened if it is to deliver the cuts in emissions that scientists tell us are needed. Nearly half of London MPs and the key Mayoral Candidates support demands for a stronger Law [2].

Friends of the Earth and Stop Climate Chaos are campaigning for a law which covers all emissions, including the UK's share of emissions from international aviation and shipping, and which commits the UK to cutting its emissions by eighty percent by 2050.

Friends of the Earth launched The Big Ask campaign for a strong climate change law, supported by Stop Climate Chaos, in May 2005. Over half a million people from across the UK have contacted their MP to demand a law and the Government listened. MPs will now have a chance to debate and make amendments to the Governments proposed law before it is introduced later this year.

Tony Juniper, Director of Friends of the Earth, said:

"This meeting is a must for anyone who is interested in change and what the Government is doing to tackle it. It is the last chance for people to quiz top politicians on the new Climate Change Law before it is introduced this summer. The law is ground breaking but it needs to be strengthened so that it covers all the UK's emissions - including those from international shipping and aviation. It's ludicrous to pretend these emissions are don't exist and it's unfair to treat international aviation and shipping differently to other sectors in the economy."

Notes

[1] The event is being chaired by Anne McElvoy Executive Editor Evening Standard. Speakers include: Hilary Benn Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Peter Ainsworth Conservative Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary; Steve Webb Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Energy, Food and Rural Affairs; and Tony Juniper Director of Friends of the Earth and representative of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition

[2] Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson and Brian Paddick support measures aimed at strengthening the Climate Change Law. Thirty three of London's seventy four MPs who have signed EDM 736 calling for a stronger Law including:

Diane Abbott, Labour Party, Hackney North and Stoke Newington

John Austin, Labour Party, Erith and Thamesmead

Thomas Brake, Liberal Democrat Party, Carshalton and Wallington

Karen Buck, Labour Party, Regent's Park and Kensington North

Paul Burstow, Liberal Democrat Party, Sutton and Cheam

Dawn Butler, Labour Party, Brent South

Vincent Cable, Liberal Democrat Party, Twickenham

Harry Cohen, Labour Party, Leyton and Wanstead

Jeremy Corbyn, Labour Party, Islington North

Jon Cruddas, Labour Party, Dagenham

Edward Davey, Liberal Democrat Party, Kingston and Surbiton

Andrew Dismore, Labour Party, Hendon

Frank Dobson, Labour Party, Holborn and St Pancras

Jim Dowd, Labour Party, Lewisham West

Clive Efford, Labour Party, Eltham

Lynne Featherstone, Liberal Democrat Party, Hornsey and Wood Green

George Galloway, Respect, Bethnal Green and Bow

Mike Gapes, Labour (Cooperative) Party, Ilford South

Neil Gerrard, Labour Party, Walthamstow

Kate Hoey, Labour Party, Vauxhall

John Horam, Conservative Party, Orpington

Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat Party, Southwark North and Bermondsey

Glenda Jackson, Labour Party, Hampstead and Highgate

Alan Keen, Labour (Cooperative) Party, Feltham and Heston

Susan Kramer, Liberal Democrat Party, Richmond Park

Martin Linton, Labour Party, Battersea

Andy Love, Labour (Cooperative) Party, Edmonton

John McDonnell, Labour Party, Hayes and Harlington

Joan Ryan, Labour Party, Enfield North

Virendra Sharma, Labour Party, Ealing Southall

Sarah Teather, Liberal Democrat Party, Brent East

Emily Thornberry, Labour Party, Islington South and Finsbury

Rudolph Vis, Labour Party, Finchley and Golders Green

The text of the EDM reads:

That this House welcomes the introduction of the Climate Change Bill to Parliament and the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP's) recent Human Development Report which described the Bill as a bold and innovative proposal to create a national carbon budget; notes however that the UNDP also warned that the Bill needed improving as its targets were not ambitious enough, and international aviation emissions were excluded, meaning that even if the Bill were applied to every developed country, global temperature would rise well beyond the two degrees Celsius limit and perhaps as high as four or five degrees; congratulates the Prime Minister on his speech on 19th November 2007, when he acknowledged the evidence now suggests that as part of an international agreement developed countries may have to reduce their emissions by up to 80 per cent.; and urges the Government to support amendments to the Bill during its passage through Parliament to address the UNDP concerns, making it an unequivocally world-leading response to climate change.