Waltham Forest take part in lobby on climate change
Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy
Two MPs from Waltham Forest were among 330 that took part in the biggest-ever mass lobby on climate change.
The “For The Love Of” event, co-organised by several environmental and anti-poverty charities under the Climate Coalition banner, saw MPs taken out of their parliamentary comfort zone to meet constituents for a face-to-face chat.
Leyton and Wanstead MP John Cryer and Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy answered questions around fracking, renewable energy, coal power generation, and airport expansion.
Stella, a candidate for the Labour Party’s deputy leadership, spent a whole hour talking to a large group of constituents from Walthamstow. She told them: “We should be retrofitting our homes but a lot of people still rely on gas central heating.
“We [Labour] wanted to decarbonise our economy by 2030 but we didn’t win the election, so how do we get there?”
When pushed, Stella refused to rule out fracking, defending it as a way to extract gas in the UK and end reliance on foreign imports.
“If there is a way we can do it by meeting environmental targets, we shouldn’t say never.”
Stella also refused to oppose airport expansion, but called on Walthamstow residents to work together on local renewable energy projects, using the successful Transition Town movement as inspiration.
John Cryer did agree to oppose fracking but told his Leyton and Wanstead constituents that it would be difficult to make progress on climate change under a Conservative government.
In November world leaders will meet at COP21 in Paris for the latest round of talks on finding a way to limit climate change to no more than two degrees.
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