Wera Hobhouse MP: Government is complacent on climate crisis

At COP27, Britain should have taken the lead on the climate crisis. Instead, Rishi Sunak made a token appearance, revealing his complacency toward the climate emergency. The Conservatives treat our climate pledges like buses, thinking that once we miss one, we can catch the next. There is no next one. The Government must work interdepartmentally to focus all policies on net zero.

I asked the Prime Minister to update us on his G20 efforts to rebuild our relationship with the world’s biggest trading block, the EU. Brexit shattered these ties, severely damaging UK businesses. These relationships must be built back after the Conservatives’ disastrous deal.

Bath’s hospitality businesses are central to our economy. Estimates say 6,000 people are employed in the sector across 525 businesses. I joined a Bath business owner at a demonstration outside Parliament to demand more help for the hospitality sector. Energy bills are taking their toll and Brexit has put the workforce in crisis. We need an overseas hospitality worker visa scheme to protect the industry from collapse.

I spoke in the debate on the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. Thousands of grandparents, aunts, uncles and siblings are stepping in to support children in crisis, yet the Government treats them as if they are invisible. I made the case for the Kinship Care Bill which would introduce weekly allowances for kinship carers, just as foster carers receive.

I have learned so much as chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Adverse Childhood Experiences, also known as ACES. They are the biggest drivers of poor mental health in children. Many children carry their traumatic experience into later life. Those with six or more ACES have a life expectancy 20 years lower than peers with none. Unnoticed and unaddressed, adverse childhood experiences are a potential lifelong sentence.

The Government’s failure to support the social care system leaves children as the victims. We must safeguard children from adverse childhood experiences and support those who go through them. Where would we be if we did not invest in children and future generations? We need to work for a better future for our children. It will be a better future for us.

I was delighted to visit Newark Works, the former industrial site of Stothert & Pitt’s engineering works on Bath’s South Quays. It has been reworked into a dynamic workspace that is home to a growing number of businesses. The staff and tenants there have brought this proud structure back to life. It is becoming a thriving creative centre once again.