Tony Blair gave his support to Northampton Climate Change Forum – an organisation set up by Sally Keeble and the Northampton Wildlife Trust – during his weekly question time this week. The commendation came the day before Climate Change Minister, Ian Pearson, came to formally launch the Forum at an event held at Northampton University.

Tony Blair said: “I congratulate the Northampton Climate Change Forum on the work they do, which shows the interest that has been taken in this issue in constituencies and communities up and down the country” He added that he would be working at the G8 to get a global target for a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

The launch event in Northampton was also a chance for our town to hear about the forthcoming Climate Change Bill from the Climate Change Minister himself. Attendees had the chance to ask the Minister questions and then watched the film ‘An Inconvenient Truth.’ There was also an opportunity to give comments on the Bill which is currently open to public consultation.

‘It was a very inspiring evening.’ said Sally Keeble ‘There is so much to do and its good to see the people of Northampton getting involved and to see the UK Government taking action with the world’s first Climate Change Bill’ she added.

You can find a briefing on the draft Bill on this website’s briefings and surveys page. You can also find the Northampton Climate Change Forum’s shortened consultation document on the same page, or the full consultation document on http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/climatechange-bill/consultation.pdf. The deadline for submissions to the consultation is June 12th 2007.