Alison Bennett's Monday Mail - Climate, nature and a maiden speech

I was one of a large group of parliamentarians and campaigners who handed in a letter to the Prime Minister urging him to back the Climate and Nature Bill a priority

Welcome to my Monday Mail for 29 July 2024. As your Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Sussex, I write a short email each Monday sharing what I have been doing and thinking about in the past week.

Climate and Nature Bill goes to Downing Street

I am one of 160 MPs as well as 50 Peers, 227 scientists and 51,855 members of the public who are urging the Prime Minister to back the Climate and Nature Bill. 

The CAN Bill makes sure the UK does its bit to keep global heating down to 1.5°C, which gives us a chance to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. While the existing Environment Act only offers to halt the decline of nature by 2030, the CAN Bill commits to reversing the destruction of nature by 2030.

On Wednesday I was one of a group of supporters of the CAN Bill who went to Downing Street to urge the Prime Minister to act. You can read more here: Letter to the Prime Minister

Maiden Speech

On Friday I delivered my first speech in parliament. This is known as a ‘maiden speech’. 

I loved being able to highlight the amazing work of just a few Mid Sussex voluntary organisations. Including the Bentswood Hub in Haywards Heath, the Burgess Hill Pantry, and learning disabilities charity Kangaroos. 

The subject of the debate was making Britain a clean energy superpower, and I celebrated the ambitions and successes of local groups like Fairer World Lindfield, Hurst Rethink and Greener Hassocks and Ditchling. These groups don’t want to sit back and wait for the government to ‘do something’ to tackle climate change. Local projects, like getting solar panels on the roof of Downlands Community School in Hassocks and a joint venture between the  Bolney Wine Estate, and the Brighton Energy Co-operative demonstrate the power of Community Energy Schemes, but the potential for more hyper local energy generation is huge, and the new government has a role to play in making it easier for such proposals to become a reality.

My maiden speech is available to watch on Parliament TV or read in Hansard.

Contacting my office

I now have a parliamentary email address: alison.bennett.mp@parliament.uk. If you need my help, please get in touch.

Over the summer I will be recruiting several members of staff to support me, but whilst it is just me, please bear with me if it takes longer than usual to respond.

Best wishes,

Alison Bennett MP
Member of Parliamentary for Mid Sussex
Mid Sussex Liberal Democrats

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