TBI gets political

23 January 2017

They say "Think global, act local" - but climate change is a global issue and things that happen on the other side of the Atlantic have an impact here. So we've called for some help from our political representatives - with all the excitement about trade deals and Donald Trump, we think someone needs to make sure trade arrangements with the USA reflect the damage done to the climate. It's great that we have strong climate legislation here but we need everyone to pull together on this one, so we have written to our MP, our constituency and list MSPs, and our MEPs urging them to do what they can to get climate change on the agenda when it comes to trade deals. Here's a sample of the letters - we'll let you know the responses.

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Email from Martin  21 February 2017

Well, I have to say that was a fairly disappointing exercise. I had replies from Ian Blackford (MP, SNP), Maree Todd (MSP, SNP), Donald Cameron (MSP, Conservative) and Douglas Ross (MSP, Conservative). Ian Blackford took the trouble to phone (twice) and said he would forward the letter on to Angus McKay, Western Isles MP, former chair of the Energy and Climate Change select committee and now chair of the International Trade select committee. The replies from the MSPs were fairly inconsequential – Maree Todd confirmed the SNP’s commitment to staying in Europe and to action on climate change, Donald Cameron said that his fellow tory list MSP Edward Mountain deals with issues in the Dingwall area, and Douglas Ross said he would continue to monitor matters. None of the MEPs replied, no wonder people see the EU as undemocratic! And no reply from John Finnie, which surprised me.
[Anne reported that John Finnie had been ill].