On the 23rd of November, a few Teach the Future members and I sat in Parliament to hear Nadia Whittome present our Bill in the House of Commons for the First Reading. The experience was exciting and extremely validating. Read this blog for a full recount of the day: plans, spur-of-the-moment decisions, emotions and all.
I turned off my 5 am alarm, got out of bed, and straight into my pre-prepared outfit. I needed to be in Edinburgh for the first train to London, so I got the train from my local train station with what I thought was plenty of time. But, of course, my train was delayed and I missed the connection. The next train left me 5 minutes to get across London on time, but I decided to risk it and made it to Parliament 20 minutes late. Luckily I got in just in time to meet the rest of the Teach the Future group before we were led to the visitors’ gallery to watch the first reading of the ten-minute-rule bill take place.
When we got to the chamber, there was another debate taking place. It was a classic lively debate and made us all the more excited to hear the sounds of Parliament in person - it was difficult to not join in! After a few minutes, the Speaker of the House ended the debate and announced that the next item on the agenda was the Ten-Minute Rule Bill on climate education! There was a bit of shuffling around - some people left and some came in, and then there were ten minutes on the timer and we were starting!
Nadia Whittome stood up and powerfully made the case for Climate Education while we all sat in the gallery, nodding along and smiling at one another. Everyone watching had been working hard to get Climate Education into Parliament, and here we were watching the outcome of our work - it was such a privilege to be there to experience it. All the issues Nadia Whittome talked about were issues which we were very passionate about - climate justice, growing up in a world impacted by the climate crisis, and of course the education that we had, and hadn’t, received. It was impactful to hear our concerns spoken about so passionately in Parliament, it made us all feel so heard. When the campaign’s name was mentioned, and MPs in the chamber looked up at us, we were all reminded that not only were we witnessing this, but we had made it happen.
When the speech was finished, we all watched as Nadia stood and walked to the front of the room, finding exactly where to stand and who to face. We were laughing as her assistant, Hattie, told us about the bizarre procedures that happen in Parliament and noticed all the MPs following them. The House Speaker and Nadia had a discussion about the next reading of the Bill, before the speaker spoke to the whole house. When she called for the 'Ayes', there was a chorus of voices saying “aayyyeeee.” Then she asked for the 'Noes', and there was silence - the Bill had been passed for a Second Reading! We all looked around, smiling and whispering excitedly. We had a Second Reading! Our hard work was worth it!
We left the chamber chatting happily, and were congratulated by the Parliamentary staff and a few MPs we bumped into on the way out, before going to do a photo shoot on the Parliament balcony. After saying our goodbyes to Nadia and Hattie and leaving parliament, we had some time before our trains so we went for a celebratory ice cream and saw the Christmas lights, an odd combo but worth it!
We all got on our trains and buses home, and I got back to my house around midnight. I crawled straight into bed without setting an alarm for the next morning - it had been an incredible and exhausting day!
The next reading is on the 28th of January - this coming Friday - and you can watch it on Parliament TV. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for climate education!