Environmental concerns could tip the vote in five marginal seats

As the UK gears up to a general election, five key Scottish constituencies have been revealed where environmental issues could tip the vote.

The environment has already become a major issue in this pre-poll period, following the Labour Party ditching its £28 billion a year green spending pledge.

A coalition of environmental charities has crunched the numbers and revealed 24 UK-wide electoral battlegrounds where green issues could be pivotal.

In Scotland there are five marginal seats, East Dunbartonshire, West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, North East Fife, Orkney and Shetland, and Edinburgh West, where over 75% of voters say the environment is a top priority. 

East Dunbartonshire - with an SNP majority of just 149 - tops the list UK-wide as an environmental battleground, as 79% of voters there say that "loss of nature and destruction of the environment should be one of the most important concerns for the country".

This research, carried out by The Climate Coalition via its new Local Intelligence Hub, underscores the crucial role of green policies in shaping the political landscape and demonstrates the need for political parties to stand strong on climate and nature commitments.

This is one of many pieces of analysis revealed by the hub, a data platform to find and interrogate data about MPs, constituencies, public opinion and the climate and nature movement, supporting national campaigning as well as local organising by community groups and individual campaigners.

It enables community groups and individual campaigners to have informed conversations with their political representatives or candidates for election, in order to demonstrate the diversity and scale of the public mandate for action on climate and nature in communities across the UK.

Becky Kenton-Lake, coalition manager at Stop Climate Chaos Scotland – a multi-charity group of which the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations is a member - said:“People in Scotland are greatly concerned about the climate and nature crises and have been calling for action for decades.

“In a year that will see a general election at Westminster and the Scottish Government publishing a new Climate Change Plan, all decision makers must commit to supporting the bold, ambitious and fair climate action that is urgently needed, and the new Local Intelligence Hub will help equip and empower communities and individuals to meaningfully take part in these important processes.”

Helen Meech, executive director at The Climate Coalition, added: “In this election year and critical decade for our planet, we are sending a clear message: now is not the time to water down climate and nature commitments or slow the pace of action.

“As this new research shows, across the UK people are concerned by loss of nature and destruction of the environment, and they want action. We need political candidates across the political spectrum to see that we are a nation of green hearts, united by our desire to see urgent action to tackle climate change and protect nature.”