Parliamentary candidates need to be more vocal in their support of renewable energy – help us lobby them

This week the main political parties battled it out to bring their green manifestos and environmental commitments to the voter’s attention. However, a poll of 101 Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPCs) carried out on behalf of RenewableUK by polling company ComRes, shows a disconnect between the political parties' green manifestos and voter opinion.

The research examined the PPCs' attitudes to the necessity for more onshore wind, investment in the electricity grid and renewables, the EU 15% target for renewables by 2020 and action on planning. The results show just over a half of the PPCs ‘agreeing strongly’ that ‘expansion of onshore wind is essential if the UK is to deliver on its renewable energy targets’.  Worryingly, 42% of PPCs disagreed with this statement.  

Year after year, independent polls suggest that over 80% of the people in this country support further deployment of wind energy, yet the research shows candidates are not listening to this public enthusiasm for wind, and are not placing enough emphasis on using onshore wind as a source of energy.  This is why we’re launching a pledge to get parliamentary candidates to sign up to the ‘I AM A WIMBY' (Wind In My Back Yard) campaign to show their support, and we need your help to do it.

If you’d like to show your support and lobby your local candidates on wind energy, asking them to sign the WIMBY pledge and state that they’d be happy to have a wind farm built near their home,  please visit our main page and click on the pink button to locate and email your local candidate