Real Change

Dear Sir Keir Starmer,

We write as residents of Sittingbourne and Sheppey.

Nearly a year ago, you were elected on a promise of ‘change’. Yet, we have seen little progress, only broken pledges and missed opportunities.

In Sittingbourne and Sheppey, people face soaring food prices, cold homes, overstretched NHS services, more frequent storms like Storm Eowyn, and the destruction of our natural habitats, rivers, and green spaces by unchecked corporations and developers. We also face the existential threat of rising sea levels with whole towns and villages across Kent predicted to be underwater by 2050—this includes Sittingbourne and around 75% of the Isle of Sheppey.

You campaigned for a Britain ready to tackle 21st-century challenges, particularly the climate and nature crisis; a Britain that capitalises on the opportunities a just-led transition offers, and puts workers before profits.

At COP29, you acknowledged the risks of warming beyond 1.5°C—floods, economic instability, and threats to national security—while promising that a Labour Government would seize the opportunities of energy independence to boost living standards.

But, the UK is off track to meet its 2015 Paris and 2022 Montreal climate and nature commitments. And yet, vast amounts of public money is being spent on subsidies for unproven technologies that benefit major fossil fuel corporations more than communities and workers like us.

We risk losing the benefits of action: lower energy bills, warmer homes, thriving ecosystems, better public transport, and clean rivers and air. By failing these pledges, you let down the most vulnerable people, including in our community.

Here in Sittingbourne and Sheppey, REAL action on climate and nature would help us tackle the rising risk of flooding and coastal erosion, as well as delivering a better standard of living for our local communities.

The Climate and Nature Bill, debated in Parliament in January 2025, offers a solution.

Crafted by leading scientists, it would make the UK’s climate and nature targets legally binding and actively involve communities in a fair way forward—driving transformative change, and creating a greener, fairer, more prosperous UK.

We know that tackling the climate and nature crisis will deliver REAL change for people across the UK—those disillusioned with politics, hit hard by the cost of living crisis, and worried about the future. It calls for action that puts people first—shaped by communities, and designed to benefit the public rather than large multinational corporations.

Yet despite the Energy Secretary’s promise to deliver the “spirit and substance” of the Bill, no action has followed.

On 11 July, the CAN Bill will return to the House of Commons, but is unlikely to progress without your Government’s support. With your 400-seat majority, you have the power to grant it emergency debate time and deliver the change you promised.

Prime Minister, we want REAL change for a better Britain. People in Sittingbourne and Sheppey want you to step up climate and nature action—not pull back.

Will you ensure the CAN Bill is allocated more time, debated and voted on in this parliamentary session?