This year’s Labour conference was branded with the slogan ‘Change begins’. It has to. We have this session. In this Parliament. The next five years to 2030. We must change how we approach tackling the climate-nature crisis—now.
Since Zero Hour’s last visit to Liverpool Labour’s conference in 2023—where 72,289 Labour delegates voted in favour of a CAN Bill motion—support for the CAN Bill has rocketed.
Following our successful election campaign, the CAN Bill is now the largest, cross-party platform on the environment in Westminster—supported by 175 MPs and 64 Peers—and (since we were last in Liverpool), the Bill was tabled in the Commons in March by Alex Sobel MP (Lab/Co-op).
But, it’s not only inside Parliament that support has been growing. Almost 1,000 partners have now joined Zero Hour’s call for joined-up, science-led legislation, including most recently Labour’s Environmental Campaign, SERA, which is chaired by river pollution campaigner, Feargal Sharkey.
At the 2024 Labour conference, Zero Hour’s purpose was clear. Make the strongest possible case that Labour should follow the science—and support the CAN Bill. A message that we took to Keir Starmer’s doorstep in July, and the scientists representing 1,200 supporters presented to MPs in September.
In partnership with Ecotricity, Zero Hour’s Labour fringe event explored how to achieve Labour’s joined-up plan to tackle the climate-nature crisis. Our impressive panel included Ecotricity founder, Dale Vince; CAN Bill’s sponsor, Alex Sobel MP; Minister for Energy Consumers, Miatta Fahnbulleh; Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin; Prof. Nathalie Pettorelli from the Zoological Society London—and former Conservative MP and net zero tsar, Chris Skidmore.
During our packed-out event in Liverpool, leading voices from across the Labour movement—and from the worlds of politics, science and civil society—issued a united call to the new Labour Government to support the CAN Bill in order to tackle the full-extent of the crisis we face.
Minister for Energy Consumers, Miatta Fahnbulleh said:
“For me, the science is really clear on this. We have less than a decade to take ambitious, bold action, to mitigate the worst impacts of the climate and ecological crisis. So I think it’s a really simple choice. We either take deliberate action upfront or we sleep walk into the crisis that we know is coming and we panic in response.”
“Thank you for all the support that has gone behind the Climate and Nature Bill, the momentum that’s been built. I think it’s so critical at this juncture.”
Former Conservative MP and net zero tsar, Chris Skidmore said:
“The crisis that we face both in terms of our climate and nature is rapidly changing and we need more urgent action, which is why today I’m backing the Climate and Nature Bill.
I truly believe we are living in revolutionary times. Times in which we now need to empower those who are able to get on with the jobs like Mayors such as Tracy Brabin, who can deliver what they know needs to happen in their own local communities, which is why we need new legislation.
We also know now that we can’t protect our climate without protecting nature. We can’t save nature without protecting our climate. They are absolutely intertwined in ways that we now know that we didn’t know 17 years ago, which is why it’s time for an update in legislation.”
The message from our fringe event is clear. It’s time for Labour to back the CAN Bill.
As momentum continues to grow, the choice before the Government is clear. Either introduce the CAN Bill as a Government bill. Or, give the CAN Bill time to proceed as a private member’s bill.
The opportunity before us—Zero Hour supporters—is clear. So we reiterate our call to the four CAN Bill supporters who’ve topped the private members’ bill ballot—(Lib Dem MPs) Max Wilkinson and Roz Savage, and (Labour MPs) Clive Lewis and Scott Arthur—to choose the CAN Bill. Get it back on the books. And propel it through Parliament, and into the statute books.
What’s next? How can you help? It’s more crucial than ever that we get every MP we can to support the CAN Bill. Every email you send, every phone call you make, every meeting you arrange, and every tweet you send builds pressure. It shows our elected representatives that the CAN Bill is something they can’t ignore.
If your MP doesn’t (yet) support us, will you email them now, and ask them to back the CAN Bill?
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