We need to build a firewall between politicians and the oil and gas firms driving the climate crisis.
Richard Burgon is the Labour MP for Leeds East
The same oil and gas giants behind the record energy bills that have forced so many into poverty have also brought us to the cliff edge of climate catastrophe.
If we are to have a fighting chance of preventing the worst of the climate crisis, then we need to rapidly cut fossil fuel use. Key to that is breaking the vast power that oil and gas companies have over our politics.
That’s why this week I will present a Bill in the House of Commons to ban MPs from receiving funding or any other benefit from oil and gas companies.
My Private Members Bill would stop MPs from taking any second jobs with, or receiving any donations, gifts, hospitality or benefits-in-kind from, any company that makes more than 50% of its annual revenue from oil or gas.
It would also force the Government to end investments by the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund in any oil and gas companies.
The aim of my Bill is simple: to build a firewall between our political decision-makers and the oil and gas corporations that have knowingly caused the climate crisis.
For decades, oil and gas giants used their vast financial power to confuse and undermine the science about the role of fossil fuels in driving climate change. More recently, their focus has moved on throwing huge sums at delaying, blocking and weakening global climate action.
Fossil fuel money also pollutes British politics. The Tory Party received £3.5m from donors with fossil fuel, polluter and climate denial links in 2022 according to an analysis of Electoral Commission records by DeSmog, an investigative website focused on global warming misinformation campaigns.
MPs have also earned huge sums working for oil firms. Former Tory Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi once pocketed £1.3m from an oil company while working as an MP. Former Energy Minister John Hayes has received over £200,000 from oil and petrochemical trader BB Energy Trading since the 2019 General Election, according to the latest Register of MPs Financial Interests. These are just two examples among many.
This goes to the very top. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak received £141,000 from individuals and companies with financial ties to the oil and gas sectors in 2022, with many of the payments going to his Ready4Rishi leadership bid. The single biggest donation to Liz Truss’ successful campaign for the Conservative leadership came from the wife of a former BP Executive.
There is also a very well-oiled revolving door between politics and the gas industry. New research exposes how, under the Conservatives, more than 100 oil and gas industry representatives have taken up senior roles in government and on ministerial advisory boards. Two dozen have gone the other way leaving government for plum roles in the oil and gas sector.
The cost paid by ordinary people for this cosy relationship was clear when the Government pushed for a windfall tax on the excess profits of fossil fuel giants. The industry went into overdrive securing over 200 meetings with the government in just 12 months. They were able to successfully water down the policy with loopholes that allowed nearly all the windfall tax to be avoided. It barely needs to be said that climate justice activists have no such access to the corridors of power.
The public has had enough of the influence that these corporate giants have on our politics. One recent poll found that six in 10 people think politicians taking donations from fossil fuel companies is “unacceptable” including four in ten who found it “completely unacceptable”. Just one in ten thought it was “acceptable”.
My Bill can be part of the fight against climate change but also of the much-needed cleaning up of our politics. I previously brought a bill to ban MPs from taking any second jobs and I welcome that Labour is now committed to this.
Even bolder action is needed given that British politics is now marked by a widespread sense of corruption at the top. Two-thirds of voters believe UK politics is becoming more corrupt, according to a recent poll. In what is clearly a danger to our democracy, just one-third had faith in their elected officials to put the public interest ahead of their own interests.
Just like with tobacco companies in the past, the influence of oil and gas giants on our politics is a huge threat to public health. Air pollution from fossil fuels already kills five million people globally every year. But even that will be dwarfed by the impact that the climate catastrophe will have on the lives and safety of billions of people.
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that the fossil fuel industry is ‘incompatible with human survival’. Stopping oil and gas giants from polluting our politics is a key step in securing the just climate transition we all urgently need.
Please ask your MP to sign EDM 221 in support of my Bill.
Image credit: Diliff – Creative Commons
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