Here is the latest news about what Natalie Bennett and Jenny Jones have been doing recently and a few highlights of 2022 working full time as the Green Party’s representatives in the House of Lords

The Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill – known as Ella’s Law – completed all stages in the House of Lords and has now been picked up in the House of Commons by Caroline Lucas MP. If you haven’t already signed the petition on Ella’s Law you can sign it here

Natalie has a project aiming to spread understanding of Green political philosophy far beyond the House, with a book titled Change Everything: Political Common Sense for the Age of Shocks. She’s publishing with Unbound, which operates on a crowdfunding model. Editing can’t start until she’s got enough subscribers, so from £10 you can help get the book into print, get your name inside its covers, and help spread the Green message (Or someone else’s name – an ideal late Christmas present!)

Energy Bill This bill originated in the House of Lords and has now reached Committee Stage where this week Natalie got positive cross-party support for her amendments on community energy schemes Genetic Technology Bill Natalie is continuing Caroline’s work on this frightening and game changing bill which has now completed Committee Stage in the Lords Higher Education Freedom of Speech Bill Natalie has repeatedly contributed to this largely unnecessary ‘gesture’ bill National Security Bill Proposing wide reaching and poorly drawn powers this bill has this week reached committee stage in the Lords where Jenny has begun to table amendments Northern Ireland Protocol Bill Working closely with the Northern Ireland Greens, Natalie has contributed to debate on the dreadful Northern Ireland Protocol Bill Procurement Bill Natalie worked with environmental and human rights groups and local government and small business groups on trying to improve the Procurement Bill, which replaces EU rules and has big implications for councils and others Public Order Bill The repressive Public Order Bill arrived in the Lords while we are yet to see the full implications of the Police Act’s expansion of police powers. It is full of rehashed versions of provisions already rejected by the House of Lords and Jenny is proposing lots of amendments. You can sign Liberty’s petition opposing the Public Order Bill here

Building Safety Act Natalie welcomed this bill though saw much in it that could have been improved Elections Act Natalie proposed amendments on election deposits and temporary housing and opposed Voter ID Energy Prices ActThe Energy Prices Act was rushed through parliament with the good intention of reducing energy bills for consumer but Jenny raised the concern that it would create a big bias against renewables and in favour of oil and gas. Natalie asked why the public are being made to pay for excessive corporate energy use and got reassurances about the treatment of community energy schemes Health and Care Act Natalie spoke to many aspects of this bill and proposed amendments on predatory finance and social care Natalie pointed out that the overall state of public health, the health of the nation – obesity, the rate of diabetes and heart disease, and issues such as poor housing contributing to asthma – is an economic issue for the UK Judicial Review and Courts Act Jenny found this bill to be largely empty and at best scrappy Nationality and Borders Act Jenny worked on this dreadful bill and continued to oppose many parts of it Nuclear Financing Act Natalie suggested a Green New Deal financing bill would be a better idea than this bill trying to resurrect a failed, expensive and outdated industry Police, Crime, sentencing and Courts Act Jenny proposed many amendments and helped obstruct the late public order amendments from the Government Post 16 Skills Act Natalie championed green skills Schools Bill This bill originated in the Lords and passed Third Reading, but hasn’t reappeared in the Commons. It was taken apart in the Lords: Jenny found the measures on home education added up to a big intrusion on family life and Natalie suggested that the whole thing be referred back Subsidy Control Act Jenny tabled amendments and asked why nuclear energy was expressly excluded from the energy and environmental principles in the Bill Our debate on Corruption Corruption has become integrated into the economic and political systems of the UK. Jenny initiated a debate on its impacts and was supported by Lib Dem and Labour peers, along with a bishop and an ex-head of standards in public life. She published a report into the impacts of corruption on taxpayers, policies and contracts Our debate on Fracking Jenny asked the obvious question about Fracking that everyone wanted an answer to: Would the Truss government go ahead even if local people say no? The ambiguous answer from the Minister undoubtedly worried Conservative MPs, as saying it is a ‘factor’, gives a green light to government Ministers over-ruling local councillors. That worry led to a rebellion against the whip, chaos in the lobbies and was the final straw in the government collapse. Caroline Lucas MP then secured a ‘no fracking’ commitment from Rishi Sunak at his first Prime Minister’s Question Time Our debate on Pesticides Natalie raised the issue of the potential risks to bees from the use of the pesticide thiamethoxam and of the increasing numbers of studies showing that cross-resistance can develop. Bacteria exposed to pesticides can end up being resistant to drugs they have never even experienced

Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill This bill has just arrived in the Lords for Second Reading and Jenny and Natalie are planning to continue the good work done by Caroline in the Commons

Anti-Microbial Resistance Natalie now has two student researchers – funded by the British Association for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy – working on this crucial area, part of the broader issue of our far exceeding the capacity of this planet to handle the “novel entities” with which we are poisoning it, from pharmaceuticals to pesticides to plastics Good attendance 🙂 Jenny was one of only two Peers to attend every sitting day in the House from May 21 to March 22 King’s College PhD Researcher Natalie has now welcomed her second King’s College PhD student who is working with her particularly on international relations and defence issues SewageJenny has been campaigning against the discharge of raw sewage into our water ways Supporting campaignsNatalie Bennett and Jenny Jones continue to support environmental and social justice campaign groups by asking questions, initiating debates, tabling amendments and hosting guests and events. To see more of Jenny and Natalie’s work please visit their websites