Helen Morgan MP met climate activists from Market Drayton, Wem and Whitchurch on 18 October, as part of the national Common Ground initiative by the Climate Coalition.  The North Shropshire climate campaigners joined hundreds around the country who met their local Members of Parliament to discuss how to work together for effective action in the face of climate breakdown. 

‘We appreciated Helen Morgan’s commitment to climate action, including her support for the important Climate and Nature bill now before Parliament, as well as her very well-informed and positive approach to the issues we discussed.  We look forward to working together in the future to support climate action at local and national levels,’ said John Hargreaves, Chair of Market Drayton Climate Action.

At the meeting Helen Morgan responded to four specific requests, as well as sharing her insights into some of the challenges and political approaches to action on climate.

The importance of leadership in influencing public awareness of climate issues 

Helen Morgan agreed that although significant action on climate must come at government level, widespread community understanding and support will be required. The climate campaigners asked for Ms Morgan to help build public awareness of the issues by using opportunities in her communications to refer to climate links in many of the initiatives and areas in which she is involved.  She responded that this is an area she will bear in mind in future.  Ms Morgan pointed out that communicating about the climate emergency is challenging in the face of social media responses from climate deniers, and that biodiversity issues are often received more readily.  Climate campaigners can support Ms Morgan in referring to climate by using social media to welcome her comments.

Pension holdings in fossil fuels

Liberal Democrat policy is for all pension funds to be divested from fossil fuels.  Although locally there have been repeated efforts urging the Shropshire Pension Fund to stop fossil fuel investments, there have been negative responses or no response at all. The climate groups asked Helen Morgan to write to the Chair of the Shropshire Pension Fund to ask what steps they are taking to divest as a matter of urgency from fossil fuels, which she agreed to do. 

Supporting farmers to move to sustainable practice 

North Shropshire is an agricultural area in which we are witnessing loss of biodiversity and the increasingly the detrimental impact of bigger farms, including impacts on carbon emissions.  The climate campaigners asked Helen Morgan to write on behalf of farmers in North Shropshire to ministers in Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs to ask about how they are planning across departments to incentivise sustainable practice which will be manageable, accessible and economically viable for farmers.  Ms Morgan said she would write to the ministers, and also that she expects Tim Fallon as Liberal Democrat lead on farming to be active on these issues in Parliament. Barbara Cotterell from Wem Area Climate Action mentioned the possibility of a farming forum in Wem next year, which Ms Morgan could consider attending.

Energy efficiency and renewable energy 

Chloe King from Wem, who works for an energy charity, gained Ms Morgan’s agreement to write to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, asking for retrofit grants to be reformed and to be more accessible.  Chloe will send supporting data on experience with the difficulty in gaining support through the grants.  Ms Morgan also described cross-party support in Parliament for requiring solar panels on all new builds, as well as moves to require landlords to upgrade housing to be more energy efficient.

On behalf of the climate groups, John Hargreaves thanked Ms Morgan for her willingness to support climate action.  ‘It is heartening for us to have national representation that recognises the crucial steps that must be taken toward a safe and healthy future,’ he said.