But how good are their environment policies?
Ealing’s three constituencies each have a number of candidates vying to represent them in parliament. But do their environmental policies live up to the Friends of the Earth demands for the next government. Here at Ealing FoE we are writing to each of the candidates to ask them more about their environmental policies. We will let you know who responds to us and what they say.
This is the letter we have written to them:
We are writing to you from Ealing Friends of the Earth as you are a candidate for one of the Ealing constituencies in the UK general election on July 4th. We would like to find out more about your environmental policies so that our supporters and the wider public can judge which candidates are committed to a genuinely effective green agenda. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that we believe the state of the environment and how we care for it will be crucial to our country during the next parliament.
The planet has already warmed by more than one degree in the last few years and we’re now seeing the alarming effects of climate breakdown. In the UK we’re facing devastating floods and unprecedented heatwaves. Overseas, people from some of the world’s poorest countries are having to flee their homes due to extreme weather.
Recent research from Friends of the Earth has shown that people in Ealing are already being affected by issues that are directly connected to the environment, such as rocketing energy bills, poorly insulated homes, air pollution and flooding.
Many local people cannot afford to pay average energy bills of £2,700 or afford to properly insulate their homes. Levels of harmful pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and PM2.5 are above WHO guidelines affecting the health of local people.
Without urgent action from the next government, the climate crisis will continue to get worse, and it will affect the poorest people the most (including those living in Ealing). Friends of the Earth believes it can help the government work towards solutions and so we have four key demands for the new administration.
- Deliver an ambitious new climate action plan that delivers on our global pledge to help prevent catastrophic climate change.
- Fix the UK’s heat-leaking homes by investing £6 billion- a –year in a council-led, street-by-street home insulation programme to cut bills and emissions.
- End the sewage scandal and take action to clean up the water and air pollution that’s harming our health and threatening our waterways, wildlife and nature.
- Take action to ensure the UK plays its part in global efforts to tackle the climate and nature crises.
We would like to find out if you support these demands and, if your bid to represent Ealing in government is successful, whether you will work to achieve them.
More information on the environment in the constituency for which you are standing can be found at State of the Environment | Local action (friendsoftheearth.uk).
We are writing to all the parliamentary candidates for Ealing and will put the information sent to us onto our website ealingfoe.org.uk.
We look forward to hearing from you.