On 4 July, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn visited a community allotment. And he used the opportunity to call for “urgent action in every community” to deal with the world’s climate emergency.
He visited Macclesfield in Cheshire, where the local authority has declared a climate emergency.
He was shown around the allotment at St Barnabas church by Katy Wardle and volunteers from the charity Cre8, which aims to build a sustainable, low-cost food network.
He said: “I was very proud to propose to Parliament on May 1 that we become the first parliament in the world to declare a climate emergency and, do you know what? It was agreed, without a vote, in Parliament, and I’m very proud of that.
“But, the big but, is how do we change policies that make sure that we have more carbon capture, either by technological means or the old-fashioned means, planting trees? How do we also improve our biodiversity – bees, insect life? You do it by gardens like this.
“You do it by encouraging the next generation to understand the importance of growing things and how things grow.”
Corbyn met schoolchildren, members of the community, and councillors from Labour-run Cheshire East Council, which has committed to a target of being carbon neutral by 2025.
Speaking ahead of the visit, he said: “We have no time to waste. The scale and severity of the climate emergency requires urgent action in every community across our country and across the world.
“We are living in a climate crisis that will spiral dangerously out of control unless we take rapid and dramatic action.”
