Happy New Year!
This is quite a long communication, so I have structured it into three sections: things I’d like you to know as my MP (and my contribution to your Listening to Corby and east Northants campaign), things I’d like to ask you (not the government – you) as my MP, and things I would be grateful if you could ask government on my behalf:
Did you know?:
- You and I are never going to agree on the EU – I feel disappointed to have an MP who is prominent in the ‘out’ campaign
- You and I are probably never going to agree on climate change – I feel disappointed to have an MP who is prominent in the campaign against wind energy
- The e-petition under my name to ban driven grouse shooting closed in late January having amassed 33,650+ signatures. This is another thing on which we are probably never going to agree.
- The UK agreed in 2014, along with lots of other nations, to phase out the use of lead ammunition in three years.
A few questions for you:
- What is your view on banning toxic lead ammunition in this country as it has been in other countries and many US states? I’m trying hard here, to find something on which we might agree.
- Did you notice that there was much discussion over the Christmas break on the role of intensive grouse moor management on floods in northern England (as covered in my book Inglorious which I loaned you (and which I somehow doubt you read from cover to cover))? In particular, did you notice that the Calder Valley was severely flooded and this is blamed by some on the intensification of grouse moor management on nearby grouse moors, including Walshaw Moor (as covered in some detail in the book I loaned you)? Check out this article by George Monbiot http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/29/deluge-farmers-flood-grouse-moor-drain-land
- Did you do the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this year? If so, which species did you see? Would you like to come round to my house and count birds and talk politics with me next year? Your excellent Labour predecessor, Andy Sawford, took up this offer a few years ago.
- What precisely is your beef against windfarms? I quite like them. Do you deny the reality of man-made climate change? Or do you doubt the usefulness of wind energy in dealing with it? If so, what is your chosen way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
- How would you see the future shape of payments to farmers if we were to leave the EU? More money or less money? More money for environmental improvement or less money for environmental improvement?
Please can you find out for me…:
- From Defra, why has Liz Truss, the Secretary of State, not published the report of the Lead Ammunition Group which she received in early June 2015. The delay in publishing the report is unacceptable.
- From Defra, when will Liz Truss respond to the report of the Lead Ammunition Group on which she has been sitting for over eight months?
- From Defra, did a minister sign off the government response to my e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting? If so, which minister?
Yours sincerely
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Spot on, Mark, and a great template which we should all be following. I’ll get to it!
http://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-your-mp/
It’s easy to email your MP, but write a letter if you can. GO FOR IT.
Thank you, Mark – excellent.
My (Labour) MP is on our side, otherwise I too would be personalising your letter.
Have you seen this excellent article?
http://www.libdemvoice.org/is-protecting-wildlife-a-political-issue-49263.html
You are quite right to ask your MP for their own opinion rather than the govt.’s Mine, also a Conservative, has very few of her own views, or at least not ones she publicly expresses. When I write to her, as I have done recently over the water quality in my local streams and river, she sends my questions to be answered by the Environment Agency, thereby distancing herself and her govt. from any responsibility that they have for the state of our water courses. And, even though the quality means they are not going to meet the Water Framework Directive targets she won’t admit there is a problem! Tory MPs are keeping at a long-arm’s length the results of their harsh austerity measures.
Labour MPs do the same in this area, I suspect that answers we (conservationists) are likely to require are too detailed (or deep) and test too many politicians?
One might be forgiven for wondering if they were worth the 10-11% pay rise? Keep meaning to research how many did actually donate it to charity ….
According to http://www.donatemypayrise.co.uk/mp-list/ 73 out of 650!
Impressive?
Apparently some 24 of 330 Conservatives, 30 out of 323 Labour but the source’s comments are not sufficiently definitive to my mind, they are anecdotal and to satisfy us I suspect they need verification from HMRC? Other parties listed.
Given the Labour party is now led by someone about as electable as Genghis Khan, I think you need to get used to having a Conservative government for a very long time. Personally I have always voted Conservative and at times for UKIP. I am glad wind farms are getting pushed back with the government reigning in these subsidised monstrosities which ruin landscapes, harm communities and kill wildlife. The Labour Party in local government is terrible on the environment.