Blog: Climate

A little while ago, I spoke to two of the volunteers who are camped up on top of the Houses of Parliament to find out how they were getting on. Louise explains the challenge of getting up there:

And Christian answers some questions posed by followers on Twitter:

Update, Monday 7pm: after nearly 28 hours on top of the Palace of Westminster, the remaining 31 volunteers have been been taken into police custody after ending their protest peacefully. Thanks to everyone who's been supporting them!

Update, Monday am: 31 volunteers are still ocuppying the roof this morning, 24 came down last night and were arrested and all have been bailed to return.

Fifty-five Greenpeace volunteers scaled the walls of the Houses of Parliament and are now occupying the roof to call for a new style of politics in Britain, one capable of rising to meet the challenge of climate change.

Tomorrow MPs return from their summer break and the government's own Committee on Climate Change will publish a progress report on UK carbon emissions. They make it clear that Britain is not doing enough to meet its commitments, and insist that a "step change" in emissions cuts is needed. With just 60 days go until the critical climate summit in Copenhagen - which faces a very real chance of failure as things stand - Britain has yet to show true commitment to making the process a success. We need politicians who are thinking about the next generation, not just the next election.

Watch the slideshow of images from parliament »

Some promising news from the Tory party conference in Manchester, where they've pledged to dump plans for Heathrow's third runway as part of their election campaign package. "We are absolutely firm on our opposition to expansion at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted," shadow transport minister Julian Brazier told the Evening Standard today. "It will definitely be in the manifesto."

It's great to hear their commitment being reaffirmed as it shows how isolated the government is on this issue. But there's a long way to go between promising to include it in the election manifesto, being able to form a government and then actually getting round to reversing the decision. Reports from the conference say that the Heathrow pledge in Theresa Villiers' speech received a polite smattering of applause, but her promise to crackdown on cowboy clampers roused the audience further still. Make of that what you will.