Climate and Nature Bill 

The St Mark's environment group would like to invite you to write to MPs about Climate and Nature (CAN) Bill:

The Climate and Nature bill is really important. It is due to receive its vital second reading on Friday, 24 January when it has to be supported by at least 102 MPs. Here is the problem. Many MPs go back to their constituencies on Fridays. Getting 102 MPs to support it may be a problem.

· So please write to your own MP asking them to support the bill on Friday, 24 January - suggested letter below

· But we want you to do more than that. Please write to family and friends who are in other constituencies asking them to write to their MPs.

You can find out how to do so below:

More information is also on the Environment Notice Board by the main entrance in church.

Instructions for Writing to MPs Supporting CAN Bill

1. Go to Zero Hour website - here
2. On home page, click Write to Your M.P.
3. Click Enter Postcode then Start.
4. Click on Write to Your M.P.
5. Check your M.P. is correct.
6. Click on Write to Your M.P.
7. Either use example email or, better, compose your own (see our suggestion).
8. Click on Next Write Your Email.
9. Select your M.P. (it may take a while before this appears).
10. Enter your details (N.B. postal address is important so M.P. knows you are in their constituency).
11. Compose your message (or use our example or Zero Hour example).
12. Click Preview and Send.
13. If no reply within a week, send a reminder or ring up.

Or send a letter by post!
If you want to write to your M.P. and they have not signed up a supporting the Bill, there are suggestions about what to say on the Zero Hour website.

Suggested letter to your MP

Address
Date

Dear (M.P. Name),
Climate and Nature Bill
I am so pleased that you have agreed to support the Climate and Nature Bill. Thank you for that.
I do not need to tell you what a critical step this is for tackling the climate emergency.
But please, please, please be there on Friday the 24th January at the second reading to make sure it passes on to the committee stage.
I would be grateful if you could assure me that you will be present at the debate to vote the Bill through.
Yours sincerely,
(your name)

Why Action Now on Climate and Nature Bill

Right now we have a chance to take decisive and effective action to tackle the climate crisis. The Climate and Nature Bill really does mark a significant step forward. For the first time it creates a joined-up plan linking the intertwined crises in climate and nature and is also realistic about the timescale which this diagram makes clear:



This is the essence of the Bill. If you go to the Zero Hour website, you can see the Bill itself and an excellent briefing for MPs. Not only is it a critically important bill but, for the first time, there is a very good chance that it will become law.

Dr Roz Savage, the Lib Dem MP for South Cotswolds came top of the Private Members’ Bill Ballot in October and has chosen to support the Climate and Nature Bill. As a result on 24th January it comes up for its critical Second Reading when MPs will debate the Bill and vote on whether to support it—or not. The CAN Bill needs at least 102 supporting votes to progress. That’s 100 votes in favour, plus two MPs as ‘tellers’ (who verify the vote). If it fails to get that many, it falls—and is no longer ‘live’. If it passes it advances to the committee stage, the next hurdle in the progress of a Bill going through Parliament.

So it all hangs on at least 102 MPs showing up to vote. With 187 MPs already supporting the CAN Bill, this feels like an achievable target - click here to see who is supporting it so far.

BUT the second reading is scheduled for a Friday, a day when most MPs have headed back to their constituencies—especially those who live far from Westminster.

What we have to do is to get letters written to as many supporting MPs as possible to ensure it passes. It will not be enough just to write to our own MP, though that is a good start. We also need to write to family and friends in different constituencies to ask them to write to their MPs, especially if they are a supporting M.P.

No, we do not want you to throw tomato soup at a Van Gogh picture, nor do we want you to sit in the middle of a motorway holding up a placard (and the traffic!). All we want you to do is to exercise your right as a citizen and write some emails.