CLIMATE change campaigners from Bradford on Avon travelled to Parliament on Wednesday June 26 to meet their local MP Michelle Donelan.

They called for her to back efforts to halt climate change and pass ambitious new laws benefiting people and wildlife.

The group, whose youngest member is 13 and the eldest being 78, joined thousands of people from around the country urging MPs to back action on climate change.

Rowena Quantrill, founder of the Climate Friendly Bradford on Avon group, said: “We have come today from Bradford on Avon to lobby our MP Michelle Donelan, to explain how urgent is to tackle the disruption our changing climate is causing around the world."

The mass meeting, which was held in the area surrounding the Houses of Parliament, was organised by campaign groups The Climate Coalition and Greener UK.

The two coalitions consist of more than 130 organisations representing over 15 million people – ranging from Oxfam and Christian Aid to the Women’s Institute and RSPB.

Ms Quantrill added: “We are a diverse group of people with ages ranging from 13 to 78 with a common commitment to the future of our children, grandchildren, and people throughout the world. We are calling for action now, before it is too late.”

The lobby was held following a Government announcement that it will set in law a target of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050.

Campaigners at the lobby called on politicians to support UK emissions reaching net zero by at least 2045, due to the urgency.

This would mean gases emitted by cars, planes, buildings and farms would have to be cut and not exceed the amount that could be removed from the air through measures such as tree-planting.

Scientists say this is necessary to avoid temperature rising more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, beyond which climate change will make floods and heatwaves worse in the UK and jeopardise food and water supplies for poor communities overseas.