General election: Environment in focus for North Northumberland candidates at Alnwick hustings

It was standing room only at St James Church Centre on Wednesday night, with dozens more funnelled into an overflow side room where they could watch the action going on upstairs via closed-circuit TV.

The event was organised by environmental groups keen to grill would-be MPs for North Northumberland specifically on the green issues of concern to constituents.

Mike Powell of Friends of the Earth Alnwick chaired the event, and joining him on stage was David Smith, (Labour) Anne-Marie Trevelyan (Conservative), Natalie Younes (Lib Dem), Jan Rosen (Green) and Georgina Hill, (Independent).

A broad-ranging discussion took in everything from farming to water pollution, renewable energy to green jobs - even the birds and the bees were considered in a question on biodiversity - over the course of a 90-minute session.

The event pulled a significantly larger crowd than Mayor of the North hustings held at the same venue in April, which probably showed local issues are more important to constituency voters than regional ones.

Labour candidate David Smith opened by saying: "I think this seat is a two-horse race between Labour and Conservative.”

But the Liberal Democrats held the former Berwick seat from 1973-2015 and their candidate Natalie Younes, will hope that it maintains its record of never having elected a Labour MP, allowing the Lib Dems to sneak past the two major parties and return to Lib Dem ways.

Asked about his stance on environmental issues, Smith said: “I want to be part of rebuilding our society with respect and integrity but we can’t achieve that unless we face the climate crisis and the biodiversity issues.

“Accelerating to net zero and securing cheaper energy and lower bills is an ambition of the Labour Party and the creation of GB Energy is a big part of that.

“I think North Northumberland can be a natural hub for green technology and we have to look at things like how we help our farmers and, in terms of sustainability, improve transport links.”

Anne-Marie Trevelyan meanwhile, who has represented the Berwick-on-Tweed for the past nine years but now sees it renamed and extended to take in areas like Morpeth, could point to the fact the Conservatives introduced the first legally binding Net Zero targets on the planet and Trevelyan herself was an architect of those targets.

She said: “I helped put together the Net Zero strategy - an enormous challenge for government - and helped implement it, making the UK a world leader in tackling climate change.

“We created the Environment Act, tackling an enormous number of areas from banning plastics like straws and cotton buds and picking off, bit by bit, things which could help ordinary members of the public live more sustainable lives.

“We now need to help them with more energy-efficient homes, right through to transforming our public transport and asking the private sector to carry a lot of the burden.

“Our net zero strategy reaches across all departments and my name is on the 78% net zero target by 2035 - a massively difficult target to reach but one I’ll do everything I can to achieve.”

For the Lib Dems, Younes made a broader appeal, focusing on the needs of the constituents over party political choices.

“Just because Labour appears certain to get in nationally doesn’t mean you have to vote for the Conservatives or Labour,” she said.

“People feel left behind and my promise to the public is that I will work solely for North Northumberland.

“I will fight for farmers who aren’t getting the support they need.

“Climate is so important to my family because if something doesn’t change their future is not guaranteed.”

Georgina Hill, the most forceful of the candidates in expressing herself, echoed the Lib Dems' plea to turn their backs on the Conservatives and Labour in North Northumberland.

“The public are sick of all the main parties saying it’s only about them,” she said. “It’s not.

“On the environment, I have campaigned strongly on water pollution, especially the pumping of sewage into the local water system, but I do think we have to respect everyone’s views around climate.”

The Green Party are of course on home territory when it comes to environmental issues and Jan Rosen called on voters to send out a message by casting their votes for him based on the assumption things need to be radically shaken up.

“In North Northumberland, we need to make sure there is more affordable housing but we also have to protect our environment,” he said.

“We have to spend more on protecting the environment and reforesting our hillsides. We need to stop the pollution of our rivers and to do that we need change.”

There was unity among the candidates when it came to almost all the green issues - especially the prospect of creating good, green jobs of the future in the region and on the urgent need to tackle water pollution and hold the polluters accountable.

Farmers were held up as central to solutions on the green transition and food security with all candidates agreeing there was a need for politicians to match actions to words when it came to environmental and climate policy.

The final word of the evening went to chair Mike Powell - his group, Friends of the Earth Alnwick having organised the hustings with Northumberland Wildlife Trust and Northumberland Hub.

“In a couple of weeks, one of the people on this platform will be voted in as the new MP for Northumberland,” he observed.

“In the years ahead, some of us might get pretty angry about the decisions they might make but we should always respect the fact they turned up on the night to give their views on issues important to us.

“We appreciate them coming in and being part of a great advert for democracy.”

Also standing in North Northumberland are Katherine Hales (Reform UK), Michael Joyce (Independent) and Andrew Martin (Social Democratic Party).