The Labour Party has a long history of taking action to protect the environment. However, the climate crisis and environmental sustainability is likely to be the biggest issue we’ll face in our lifetimes, and we need to take urgent and radical action to protect our planet, before it’s too late.

I’ve been privileged to visit schools and listen and learn from the young people who are thinking seriously about what steps we can take as a society to protect their futures. I’ve also proudly joined the School Strikes for Climate Action in Brighton and Hove, spoken at climate strike rallies and met activists from Extinction Rebellion, who have raised the awareness of these issues massively in recent months.

I also led a debate in Parliament recently on electric vehicles, calling for the old Tory Government to bring forward the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles to 2032 – you can read more here: http://bit.ly/2OFU4Pv.

You may remember too that my Labour Party colleagues managed to force them to declare a Climate Emergency, and we also produced a dedicated manifesto for the environment, which you can find here: https://www.labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/The-Green-Transformation-.pdf. I really believe that tackling the climate crisis is a positive in so many ways if we get it right, and our policies are designed to harness those opportunities.

Let me make it clear from the start that I am in complete agreement that we are facing a crisis. With our global carbon footprint ever-increasing, our natural environment is under threat. The weather we have had last summer, the floods in Pakistan and the plethora of climate emergencies occurring all over the world only go to illustrate the real-time and worsening changes our choices are having on the global climate.

As you know, this does not just affect what we see around us, but it threatens the stability of our public health. The RCP notes the most important chemical pollutants in our outdoor air are particulates – primarily from traffic, especially diesel engines – and nitrogen oxides which are generated by vehicles, among a range of sources. In addition to the impact on health, nitrogen oxides can affect biodiversity in sensitive habitats. And this impact is accelerating.

The impact of dangerous and illegal levels of air pollution on the health of millions of people across the country, including those most vulnerable in our communities, worries me greatly. People living in the most deprived areas with the most toxic air suffer disproportionately greater ill health. I believe inaction has allowed catastrophic levels of air pollution to build up nationwide. In 2016, a report by the Royal College of Physicians found that 40,000 deaths are attributable to air pollution in the UK every year. It saddens me to see such little change on this issue 10 years after the death of Ella Kissi-Debrah, the first person to have air pollution marked as the cause of death.

What worries me, even more, is the effects of slow reaction the old Conservative Party took, not taking the climate crisis seriously at all, to the point of even verging on climate-denial with some of their government’s statements. The current plans by the Government are wholly inadequate and are removing climate policy, not putting it in place.

However, Labour is deeply committed to this issue. Labour nor I will shrink away from the hard task ahead like the Conservatives, but instead, tackle it face-on in the serious and committed manner a crisis like this requires. We will lead this country’s green transition to protect our planet for future generations, unlock new and exciting industries and create secure jobs in our new green economy.

Green policy must be designed effectively so we can ease the inevitable disruptive change that comes with this transition, ensuring people and places are protected and supported through it. This should include a truly nationwide charging network for electric vehicles (EVs), new gigafactories leveraging private sector investment and creating thousands of British jobs, as well as interest-free loans for new and used EVs to those on low and middle incomes. We need clear and consistent climate leadership.

And that is what we are delivering. Our Plan For Change manifesto declares clear pledges, plans and projects that will have a transformative impact on our environment. You can read it here. I am delighted to be playing a role in this myself, with my own department of science, technology and innovation partnering up with Ed Miliband’s department of energy security and net zero to deliver an AI Energy Council.

On a local level I am keen to work with the other MPs that represent Brighton, inlcuding Sian Berry of the Green Party, the council and other key stakeholders to ensure that we are doing all we can as a community to contribute to the necessary changes required to help meet our targets, including recycling rates and sustainable transport.

I’ve been doing my best to walk the talk on all this too – I haven’t had a car for a number of years now and I make sure I choose renewable energy suppliers. And I’ve switched to 100% electric for my home which comes from ultra-low carbon sources. I’m still saving for solar for my roof!