Steve Baker and the group of MPs and peers who make up the Net Zero Scrutiny Group are risking not only my future but that of my children. That may sound over-dramatic, but it’s what I firmly believe to be true – and it’s why I have set my heart on making Baker either change his climate stance or change his job of MP for Wycombe.
How did I get here? Since I had my children, my climate anxieties have rocketed. I have read enough climate science to know that food shortages, flooded cities and millions dying, especially in the global south, are down the line if we don’t act now. I can’t bear the idea of my children living in that future.
Because of these fears, a group of environmentally minded constituents from High Wycombe, including myself, organised a Zoom meeting with Baker, our MP in October 2020 to try to persuade him to become active on the environmental issue. He had just finished work on Brexit, and shown that he could go against the political flow. In my dreams I imagined he might turn his talents towards supporting the climate agenda.
Baker listened courteously to us and promised to look into it. But soon after Baker became a trustee of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (recently rebranded as Net Zero Watch), a lobby group that has been accused of denying climate science. When I found that out, I felt angry and powerless.
But we’re not powerless, and some of us on that original Zoom call have found allies and set up the Steve Baker Watch campaign to let other constituents know our concerns. It is not OK with us that Baker is trying to derail the green agenda. And it is not OK with us that he is taking a minority view and pushing those views out across the media.
If you look at Baker’s Twitter feed, he appears to be a man who is only interested in the energy crisis because of the effect it will have on struggling families. He has said that “the current net zero strategy only works for those who can afford much higher bills”. But I, too, work for the Wycombe community. I am an NHS occupational therapist, visiting vulnerable people in their own homes every day – the sort of people who will be worst affected by rising bills.
Baker claims to be on their side, but is he really? If he cares about ordinary people, why didn’t he vote for a school meal extension for struggling families during the pandemic? Why did he get into a Twitter spat with Marcus Rashford on the subject, saying it would break the economy? All this is in spite of the fact that levels of food poverty in High Wycombe are some of the highest in England.
If you examine Baker’s record it’s clear that he is willing to vote against the interests of poorer people. So why is he on your screen claiming to care that struggling pensioners can’t afford energy this winter because of the crisis? Why does he say we should continue with expensive fracking, instead of taking up cheap renewable options? It couldn’t be that he is putting the interests of fossil fuels above our futures, could it?
Baker only has a 4,000-vote majority. Although he has a majority-remain constituency, he was a chief advocate of the leave campaign. He can’t keep going against so many of his constituents’ views and interests and keep his seat. Some people say wait until an election but that is too far away for us. The former UK chief scientific adviser, David King, says what we do in the next five years will determine our futures. We need to have our voices heard now.
Our aim is simple: Baker needs to engage with our concerns or step down as an MP. He has claimed that those associated with Steve Baker Watch are from opposition parties in the constituency. But we are not party political. For me, it would be just as much a result if he were deselected and replaced by a Tory from the Conservative Environmental Network as if Labour or the Lib Dems were to take the seat.
We are proud of what we are doing in Wycombe. And we won’t stop here. To those MPs who are lethargic on the environmental issue, we are issuing a warning. This campaign will be coming to their constituencies soon. Change your mind or change your job.
Gemma Rogers is an occupational therapist and a member of Steve Baker Watch
