MP Caroline Lucas: stabilise our environment and build a secure economy that serves future generations

“Stabilise our environment and build a secure economy that serves our children and grandchildren”

A cross-party case for a UK Future Generations Act was presented to the House of Commons on March 24^th 2020

The FT reports that award-winning MP Caroline Lucas – a powerful, long-term advocate for reducing long-distance food ‘swaps’, just defence, a Green New Deal and a healthy environment – has presented a cross-party case for a UK Future Generations Act to transform how we think, plan and budget by embedding sustainability at the heart of policymaking.

This follows and complements Lord Bird’s Future Generations Bill, which offers “the UK’s opportunity to systematically address these issues”. Two years ago he had announced his intention to launch an all-party campaign in the UK Parliament next year when he delivered the annual Well-being of Future Generations Commissioner for Wales lecture at Cardiff University.

Dr Lucas has worked with others working for a better future in many fields; she was an early signatory of the International Simultaneous Policy -SIMPOL (John Bunzl) which seeks to end the usual deadlock in tackling global issues; in July 2008, she joined the Green New Deal Group (Colin Hines) and has links with Surviving the Future (Shaun Chamberlin) Protect the Local, Globally (Local Futures, Helena Norberg Hodge and Anja Lyngbaek), five people whose work is covered on allied websites from time to time.

Though as yet the only Green Party MP in the Commons, she is heard with respect and valued by her constituents. As the BBC reports, in the 2015 general election she was re-elected with an increased majority of 7,967, in the 2017 general election her majority increased to 14,689 and in the 2019 election it grew to 20, 940 votes.

Dr Lucas has good cross-party links and would have worked well with Jeremy Corbyn. As she argued:

“There is no better argument for abandoning tribalism than the looming climate crisis we face. If we’re going to stabilise our environment and build a secure economy that serves our children and grandchildren, we have to work together”.

 

 

 

 

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