Newsletter
Aug 11, 2023
With wildfires in Greece and Portugal causing destruction and deaths, who would have believed our serving Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, would be granting over 100 new oil licences to drill for more fossil fuels in the North Sea? This has been a devastating blow to the movement. Not only are we in a climate and ecological emergency, we are also in a democratic emergency of staggering proportions.
We at MP Watch are breaking a stride on this work, and you are warmly invited to stride alongside. Today, we bring you a roundup of news and resources to help grow our movement.
New training
We've been chuffed by the positive response to our new groups' training rolled out by Ed Walsh. Two groups started a series of six free one-hour sessions on subjects such as reaching out to find partners, local press, leaflets, meeting your MP, crowd-funders and press releases. Delivered in Ed's inimitable style of humour and low hassle, the sessions have gone really well.
There will be two new courses starting at the beginning of September. If you would like to secure a place, email us at contact@mpwatch.org.
Manchester launch
On Tuesday, 15th August, we are having a regional launch in Manchester, and we are hoping any friends to the project in the region might come along on that day. Greater Manchester has a range of marginal constituencies, climate deniers, Conservative Ministers and Labour Shadow Ministers so it's a very rich area to focus on before the next election.
Our aim is to raise enough interest to have a regional hub in which groups can help each other and even meet in person for a catch-up and a pint of coffee.
Please RSVP to contact@mpwatch.org to join us on the day, and we very much look forward to meeting you and your friends.
Lee Anderson Watch donations
In last month's newsletter, we revealed the launch of Lee Anderson Watch. As well as being famously outspoken, 30p Lee is also a climate denier. You may be aware of Lee Anderson's shameful comments about migrants 'f*cking off back to France' this week.
We're pleased to have got quite a bit of national coverage ourselves for the launch of the group in ;
This month, we are asking our readers to donate to help the constituents oust their climate-denying MP, who also happens to be a GB News presenter and thinks his constituents can live on 30p a day!
30p of every £1 donated will go to the local food bank; the group are grateful for any donations you can afford.
Movement of Movements
We are proud to be part of a movement of movements, to be linking arms and working with other organisations, each specialising in our field of expertise. Today, we bring you two initiatives to help you on this journey.
People, Pint, Planet
Strong, healthy teams start with good friendships. The People, Pint, Planet team wants to buy you a drink and get like-minded people together. There may already be an event being hosted locally to you. The neat idea is to have an informal gathering, enabling that crucial first step in getting to know each other.
More and more people are tuning in to the fact that urgent action must be taken. Why not consider starting a PPP event yourselves? The process is simple, and it would be an excellent way for new or established groups to find new members or allies.
So, enjoy an evening out and make some new friends!
Vote Climate
Vote Climate has been working on a fantastic piece of work focusing on parliamentary speeches and voting records. This will significantly help you build a picture of some of the activities of your own MP.
You can check out all the votes and speeches here.. https://voteclimate.uk/mps/parliament/speeches/all
To search for the voting record of your own MP, amend the link to include their-name, (hyphenated) for example
https://voteclimate.uk/mps/rishi-sunak/parliament/speeches
This will give you valuable insight on what your MP talks about, or rather, doesn’t talk about enough.
New videos
Steve Baker Watch beginnings
Last week we were delighted to host a webinar with Gemma and Zoe from Steve Baker Watch to tell the story of their journey, including lots of unexpected surprises along the way. These are lively and relatable, certainly not one to be missed.
Parliamentary process
Also new in the past month has been Professor Victor Anderson’s helpful video on Parliamentary Process. You can watch the video by clicking the button below, please also subscribe to our channel for regular new videos.
LOCAL ROUND UP
Steve Baker Watch
Update from Gemma Rogers:
Following the depressing but unsurprising news that Rishi Sunak has given the green light to over 100 licences for oil and gas extraction, we wrote to Steve Baker last week asking him to meet with us to discuss the Conservatives woeful inaction on climate change. We are still waiting for a reply.
Maybe we will catch him at our weekly vigil outside his office this Friday. Although we hold out little hope of our leopard changing his climate denying spots, we think it is important regularly to try and engage him. So we are keeping our fingers crossed he will agree to meet with us. We are also keeping up our other activities: letter writing to the local press, social media engagement, putting up posters and blue plaques around town, and we have some exciting plans for the autumn. Please have a look at our website if you are interested in supporting us in any way. Cheers!
