In My View: Marsha de Cordova, MP for Battersea

The world is burning, and the Prime Minister doesn’t care. The world is facing a climate catastrophe.

Two weeks ago, leading scientists issued a report that said we are coming dangerously close to causing irreversible changes to our planet.

In Battersea, we have seen the effects of climate change when we experienced some of the worst flash flooding on record, and this summer had our first ever 40C day.

Our reliance on fossil fuels has also created a health crisis due to air pollution which I have been focusing on in Parliament.

Parts of London have some of the poorest air quality in the country including some areas in Battersea.

The climate crisis and poor air quality disproportionately impacts low-income people and those from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds.

It is unfair that the people that have contributed least to the climate crisis are most impacted by it.

That’s why it is a scandal that successive Tory Governments have not shown real leadership on the climate crisis.

Instead, they prioritised party politics and ideology over people and the planet.

The Prime Minister demoted the COP Minister from cabinet and said he won’t be going to COP27, only to now be dragged kicking and screaming after he learnt that Boris Johnson was going.

The Government also continues to champion the disaster that is Brexit, even though it is having a harmful impact on our country including on our actions to tackle the climate crisis.

Two weeks ago, the Government introduced the Retained EU law bill which could cause considerable harm through removing key protections for consumers, workers, and the environment.

There is no question Londoners will be impacted by the Government’s inaction to tackle air pollution as a result of bungled post- Brexit targets.

We cannot afford for the Government to play party politics while the world is burning. We must hold them to account for our planet and future generations.

They need to commit to Labour’s plan for a 100 per cent clean power system by 2030, a national wealth fund to invest in green jobs and GB energy, a publicly-owned energy generation company.

Getting to net zero is in our economic and national security interests.

If we want to tackle the economic crisis, energy insecurity, the climate emergency, then we have to go “further and faster” on a green transition through increasing our use of the cheapest means of energy generation and being more energy efficient.

That’s why I will also be looking at how we can accelerate the green transition locally in Battersea.