Wendy Chamberlain MP - Green Hero
Wendy Chamberlain was elected in 2019 as the Member of the UK Parliament for North East Fife and she currently serves as the Deputy Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats and is the Chief Whip of the Liberal Democrats. In 2022 she was appointed as the Spokesperson for Work and Pensions. Wendy Chamberlain was born in Inverclyde, however, she has lived and worked in Fife for 12 years, serving as a police officer. Community is a central aspect of her values, and she lists the Cost of Living, Public Services and Local Environment as her top priorities.
Through all of these three priorities runs a green thread. As we all know, the cost of living has soared because of energy prices, and Wendy advocates for a windfall tax on oil and gas giant companies in order to help bring down the costs for UK residents. The profit that oil and gas corporations take home are unjustifiable when people are making a decision between heating their homes or eating, or small businesses face financial uncertainty. Alongside this, Wendy echoes the Liberal Democrats calls for insulating homes, particularly those who are low income.
The protection of local services is one of her core priniples. This includes protecting the Post Offices from closures, and extending the opening times for recycling centres (she has been continuously calling for Fife Council to improve it's recycling facilities) and leisure centres, but also importantly, for the protection of vital rail and bus services to increase connectivity networks for Fife with the rest of Scotland and the UK, particularly in rural areas and reverse cuts. She meets with Stagecoach regularly to ensure that residents have access to green transport whilst also ensuring that those who live rurally do not experience isolation.
Local environment is her third, but by no means least important priority! Wendy is very proud to live and represent a rural area surrounded by natural beauty of Scotland, such as the Lomond Hills regional park, encouraging her to partake in community based activities and projects which increase local biodiversity- such as Strathmilgo Conservation Community day and helping to plant trees in Gauldry, St Andrews, Newburgh and Cupar, joining beach cleans and helping to rebuild communities by responding to storm damage especially to the St Andrews Harbour and Pittenweem sea wall, damage from storms that will become all the more frequent with climate change, and can be attributed already to rising global temperatures.
Additionally, Chamberlain has been actively call alongisde her Lib Dem peers to end illegal sewage dumping, putting added pressure on the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, particularly in the North East Fife Constituency, where the River Eden and and the River Leven have been polluted. She has been working with local community efforts to respond to local flooding and clean up the river Eden.
See below what Wendy has to say on illegal Sewage Dumping in her own constituency of Fife:
This morning @agcolehamilton and I tested the sewage levels at River Almond, one of the many rivers affected across Scotland. I hope that the Clean Water Act being put forward in Hollyrood by my colleagues will allow us to properly improve our water systems. pic.twitter.com/amRVcsR1Sm
— Wendy Chamberlain MP (@wendychambLD) January 19, 2024
Fighting for the Move to Renewables
Since her election in 2019 and as the Spokesperson for Workers and Pensions, Wendy Chamberlain has spoken up for the opportunities for job opportunities that a transition to net zero and green technology investment will bring. And has been supportive of the ten point plan for a green industrial revolution. In her time in Parliament, she has made many speeches where she Chamberlain has spoken up many times for an urgent need to address the climate crisis, opportunities for green technology investment / green economy and job opportunities in a transition to net zero.
- Voting Consistently against and standing up to the government issuing new offshore petroleum and gas licences.
- Cosigned the letter which calls to reverse the 28% cut to renewable energy funding
- Vocally supports the road to 80% renewables transition, GreenRecoveryPlan, and insulating homes.
- Campaigning for withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty. The outdated Treaty is a barrier for us from being able to achieve the next essential climate goals,
- Campaigning to legislate to allow for community energy.
- Being a board member of Fife Communities Climate Action Network
- “Liberal Democrats want to see action to support people through this winter. We would double the Winter Fuel Allowance to offer extra help to pensioners, paid for by a proper windfall tax on the oil and gas giants.”
Farming and Fishing
Also in her job as Spokesperson for Workers and Pensions, Supporting farmers by negotiating Brexit and in relation to recruiting seasonal staff. Without migrant workers, typically coming from Europe, many farms would not survive. She calls out the fact that those who are currently here are having issues extending their visas, often they are only annual, which impacts farm's long-term plans. Not only are farmers a vital workforce, supplying us with high-quality homegrown food, they are also a cornerstone of ecological conservation and custodians of the land.
Supporting the inshore fishing fleet in relation to unnecessary medical checks. Fishermen and women are now required to get a doctor-approved medical certificate before they are allowed to work on a boat, this would mean almost 50% of UK fishermen could no longer work. Many of these fishermen run smaller, family-owned fisheries and fishing businesses, as well as leaving them financially and emotionally vulnerable,
Farmers and fishermen interact with our ecosystems in a most intimate way and are guardians of our land and sea. Protecting their livelihoods is integral to the protection of our land.
Follow for More:
Website:https://www.libdems.org.uk/wendy-chamberlain
https://www.northeastfifelibdems.org.uk/
X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/wendychambLD?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wendychambld/?hl=en
Making Change Happen
Wendy Chamberlain is a key member of the Liberal Democrats team which can, together, make environmental change happen in Parliament, so we'll be doing all we can to help get her elected. Will you join us?
For more Green Heroes go to the Green Heroes front page here >>> https://greenlibdems.org.uk/en/page/green-heroes
