Thanks to WEN Trustee Anne Litherland for writing this report about her experience of attending the mass lobby of Parliament, organised by the Climate Coalition.

On 9th July Sarah Haworth and I met with Angela Eagle, the MP for Wallasey, as part of the Climate Coalition lobby of Parliament. Alongside 5,000 others, we came together in Westminster for the Act Now, Change Forever Mass Lobby. We called on MPs to act now for a healthier, fairer, safer future, in one of the biggest moments for climate and nature this year, and the largest mass lobby of the decade.

Sarah spoke first about Greenpeace issues and introduced them by talking about us living on the coast. She asked as 30% of oceans are to be protected by 2030, when would UK government ratify this. The positive reply from Angela was that it would be by end of this year.

Then Sarah asked about protecting Marine Protected Areas especially from bottom trawling and Angela said she’d get back with details.  Sarah also asked if the government would support a strong Global Plastics Treaty as nothing has been agreed yet.  Angela was supportive of the idea. On the Global Plastics Treaty, Sarah asked for government to sign this. There was general talk on the issues of plastics in oceans, soil and us. Angela knew of a company on Dock Road which produced cleaning materials from yeast, also plastic consuming bacteria have been found so there is some progress in plastic reduction.

Then it was my turn. I was representing my parish, Holy Apostles and Martyrs Parish, on behalf of the charity Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD). We had met Angela on the previous lobby in 2019 and as a parish have been working on climate issues ever since. CAFOD’s focus for the lobby was overseas debt as 1 in 4 countries are now in a debt crisis where they are spending more than 10% of their income on servicing the debt and cannot fund basic services, like health and education. I asked Angela to support the Private Members bill, on debt justice which was due to have its second reading in the House of Commons on 11th July.  As most debt is now owed to private banks and creditors, a change in UK law could help make those debt negotiations fairer. The injustice of a private creditor suing South Sudan, one of the poorest countries in the world, with 67% of population dependent on food aid, for £4.5million because it defaulted on its loan repayments, is just one example of the issue. The unrest in Kenya and Sri Lankan also has its roots in debt.

We are going to follow up the lobby by meeting in September, in Wallasey.

Of the other Wirral MPs, a CAFOD friend met Alison McGovern later in the week, and Nick Drew, former Chair of Trustees of WEN met his MP, Matthew Patrick on the day. Nick was also involved in the launch of SAFER (Strategic Adaptation for Emergency Resilience) that afternoon.

The lobby was a great occasion to meet others concerned and acting for the climate, from so many environmental and other charities: WWF, WI, National Trust, RSPB, Co-op, Woodland Trust, Islamic Relief, Tearfund to name but a few. There was a programme of talks during the day, nature walks and stalls, plus religious services. It is encouraging to act together, and we all need to do as much as possible to counter the worst effects of climate change.