Originally published at: https://therestartproject.org/news/declaration-wrap-up/
2024 has been a huge year for us, campaigning loudly for repair and reuse in the UK. In Autumn of last year, we launched the UK Repair and Reuse Declaration which was met by love and support from fixers, organisers, businesses and NGOs all over the UK. We quickly went to work supporting individuals and repair groups alike to contact their local MPs and ask them to sign the declaration. Some MPs did but the majority were slow to. If you want a reminder of what the declaration is all about, you can check out our explainer on what we’re asking for.
We brought repair to parliament
In the spring we hosted a repair cafe in parliament. We enlisted the help of our friends at Back Market, SUEZ, Replace Base, Green Alliance, The Design Council and community groups across the UK and made it a Restart Party to remember. More than 30 MPs came to find out what a repair cafe is all about and some of them even brought items to be fixed there and then, leading to more than 11 MPs and peers signing the declaration on the day!
Images by Mark A Phillips, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
In the summer we paused our efforts to recruit MP supporters whilst the General Election campaign was underway. But once new electees were settled in, it was time to renew our efforts tenfold. So, we sent a joint letter on behalf of the declaration signatories to Sir Keir Starmer immediately after the election. And we’ve just had a response from Parliamentary Under-Secretary for DEFRA, Mary Creagh CBE MP!
We worked with Repair Cafes around the country to congratulate their newly elected MPs and invite them to visit them for Repair Day this year, see what community repair is all about (absolutely love it!) then sign their support for declaration. And we are so delighted with what we have achieved together.
Then we brought it to a town near you
Repair Day led to a flurry of activity with MPs visiting their local repair events all across the UK including in Bath, Chiswick, Bounds Green, Cambridgeshire and Llandrindod. We’re so proud to end the year with 41 MPs signed up, 2 peers and 3 councils! And while political support is very important, we don’t want to forget the 55 businesses, 32 national organisations and of course, 245 community groups who are signed up to support repair and reuse in the UK.
So what’s next?
We’re keen to push the issue of repair and reuse even further to the forefront of the government’s mind in the new year, particularly while an expert circular economy task force meets to develop a strategy for the UK. So watch this space for our January actions and subscribe for updates so you don’t miss out on getting involved.
And as always if you’d like to encourage your MP to support the declaration, we’ve made it super easy. Find our emailing tool here.
[Feature image by Mark A Phillips, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0]