One issue that has so far not featured enough in the General Election is the state of the environment – here and around the world.
I invite you to watch this short film on my environment work and priorities, and to help me share it far and wide! Please click here.
This is an issue I have campaigned on for my entire life – as a child, as the editor of The Ecologist Magazine, as an MP, and most recently as the new Minister for the Environment, Conservation, Climate and animal welfare.
Given what we now know about the catastrophic rate of habitat and species loss, ocean pollution and the science around climate change, it is hard to exaggerate how important these issues are.
We have lost more than half the world’s land animals in my life time, half of all coastal wetlands have gone, the oceans are on track to contain more plastic than fish, and climate change, if not contained to around 1.5C will be catastrophic, both for nature and humanity.
My record standing up for nature goes back a very long way and I have been able to secure some significant commitments and changes as an MP, whether strengthening our environment laws in the UK, leading the charge on the illegal wildlife trade, opposing Heathrow expansion or persuading the government to create a huge network of giant marine protected areas around our overseas territories.
And in just 100 days as a Government Minister, I have helped persuade Government to double Climate funding to £11.6 billion, expand our ocean protection, and commit to a range of ambitious new funds to protect fragile ecosystems around the world.
On animal welfare too, I was able to secure commitments to introduce some of the toughest animal welfare laws in the world, from banning the live export of animals for fattening and slaughter, ending the pet monkey trade, increasing sentences for extreme cruelty, and much more besides.
I’m proud of my record, but there is so much more to do, which is why I am campaigning so hard to earn your vote in this critically important election.
If you send me back to Parliament on December 12th, I will continue to work to deliver the highest environmental and animal welfare standards in the world.
Please do have a look at this short film, and if you like it, please do share far and wide.