Will the next MP for Keighley and Ilkley support 3 key green pledges?
Guest post from Climate Action Ilkley 🌳
Climate Action Ilkley has partnered with the Bradford Climate and Nature Network (BCANN) to ask all prospective parliamentary candidates in the upcoming general election to commit to supporting three climate and nature pledges.
BCANN are representatives and supporters of community organisations deeply concerned about the devastating impact climate and nature emergencies have at a local, regional, national and global level.
These organisations include Global Justice Bradford, Friends of the Earth, Bradford-Shipley Travel Alliance, Fossil Free WY Pension Fund, XR Bradford, KT Permaculture, Climate Action Ilkley, XR Ilkley and others.
We want to know that the people standing to be our MPs, who make legislation in our name, are committed to tackling climate change to prevent these emergencies from deepening further.
We wish to inform the electorate about the need for government, businesses and all organisations to respond positively to the threats of the human-made climate and nature crisis, as urged by the United Nations, the International Energy Agency and our government’s own advisors.
We have asked all candidates standing in the general election in the five constituencies of Keighley and Ilkley, Bradford East, Bradford South, Bradford West and Shipley across the Bradford metropolitan district area to support the following three pledges:
Climate and Nature Bill
The Climate and Nature Bill is the legislation we need to tackle this growing crisis. The bill will help us build a healthier, more prosperous, nature-rich UK – as well as create new jobs and skills. It will also make us:
Better off: by ensuring our homes are adequately insulated and our energy is cleaner, less expensive and more secure
Healthier: by reducing air pollution and encouraging healthier, more sustainable food consumption while supporting our farmers and food producers
Happier: by protecting our green spaces and the wildlife that depends on them, ensuring everyone has access to nature and increased wellbeing
More resilient: by reducing the threats from extreme weather, such as flooding, erosion, and crop failure
The Climate and Nature Bill ensures the UK does its part to keep global warming down to 1.5C, which gives us a chance to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. This means rapidly cutting down greenhouse gas emissions.
Fossil Free West Yorkshire Pension Fund
The Fossil Free West Yorkshire campaign is calling for the West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF) to divest from fossil fuel investments. The campaign has support from many local residents, WYPF members and organisations across the region. The WYPF:
Is administered by Bradford Council on behalf of West Yorkshire councils
Is one of the largest council pension funds in the country
Would be making a very significant decision if it were to divest all investments in fossil fuels
Stop Rosebank
Fossil fuel use is the main contributor to greenhouse gases. If we want a liveable climate, this oil licence must be revoked.
Rosebank is a planned new oil field 80 miles off the Shetland coast in the North Atlantic. The UK government has approved Norwegian oil giant and Britain’s biggest gas supplier Equinor’s application to start developing the Rosebank oil field.
At nearly 500 million barrels, Rosebank is the UK's biggest undeveloped oil and gas field, dwarfing the nearby Cambo oil field, which drew huge protests in 2021.
Ninety per cent of Rosebank’s reserves are oil, not gas. Like 80% of all North Sea oil, most of Rosebank’s oil is expected to be put in tankers and exported for refining overseas, with only some sold back to the UK at market price.
Rosebank’s oil will not lower UK fuel bills. The UK public, however, would carry almost all the costs of developing Rosebank. Thanks to the UK government’s oil and gas subsidies, the UK public would hand over roughly £3 billion in tax breaks to Rosebank’s owners just to develop the field.
We have also asked candidates to write up to 200 words on the actions they will take if elected as an MP to demonstrate their determination to support each of the pledges they have made.
We need to show our prospective candidates that this is important for all of us, which is why urge people to pledge their support for the Climate and Nature Bill here. You can also sign up as a business or organisation. Did you know Wharfedale Naturalists, Ilkley Town Council and Climate Action Ilkley have signed up to support the Climate and Nature Bill?
Who is pledging what
We now know which of the seven candidates for Keighley and Ilkley have pledged support for these campaigns (the results for the other four constituencies in the Bradford District can be found on our website below).
Three candidates, John Grogan (Labour), Vaz Shabir (Independent) and John Wood (Green), have pledged support for the Climate and Nature Bill. Only one, Grogan, has pledged support for the Fossil Free West Yorkshire Pension Fund. No candidates have pledged support for the Stop Rosebank campaign.
Grogan is the only candidate who supplied a written statement, which includes the following comments regarding the Stop Rosebank campaign:
“I would have opposed Rosebank had I been an MP in the last Parliament. In our manifesto we have said we will respect current licences. I do not feel that it would be appropriate for me to sign a petition referring that government to the courts.
“My understanding is that the court case against Rosebank will now proceed as it was waiting for the recent Supreme Court judgement. If the court finds against the government and a new license is applied for, I would not support the granting of it in any vote in Parliament.”
All candidates, except Shabir, were contacted by email on 10 June (we were not able to find an email address for Shabir). We could not find individual email addresses for some of the other candidates and used party email addresses to contact them. Kath Steward, from Climate Action Ilkley, said:
“It has been surprising that some candidates have not responded at all to our request regarding their views about these three climate and nature pledges. In particular, it was surprising that we received no response from Robbie Moore, who was the MP for the constituency in the last parliament.”
It is noteworthy that Moore did sign a Friends of the Earth pledge during the 2019 general election campaign. This pledge stated, “I’ll make the Climate Crisis a deal breaker in how I vote in Parliament.”
Unfortunately, his parliamentary voting record did not reflect the pledge he signed. You can find Moore’s climate voting record here.
After the election, BCANN will contact all newly elected MPs to hold them accountable for their pledges. It is not enough to sign pledges—MPs must follow through with action.
You can find more information, resources and our website here.