TORI TSUI, award winning climate campaigner, author and the lead petitioner, has urged the Prime Minister to reject Rosebank and not “turn his back on the future that he once believed in” ahead of the Labour Party Conference.
11,000 signatures asking for action
A coalition of local residents, environmental campaigners, organisations and a giant papier-mâché ‘Andy Burnham’ held a stunt outside No. 10 North on Friday 18 Sept 2026, to demand the new Government show leadership in response to the growing impacts of climate and nature breakdown here in the UK.
The call comes after a summer of extreme heat and wildfires, including the Dovestone and Swineshaw fires, which have had a lasting impact on local people. Local campaigner Hannah Hartley said the PM “took urgent steps” to tackle the dual crisis as Mayor, but is now urging him to “do everything in his power” to put climate and nature action at the heart of his new Government.
The petition, signed by over 11,000 residents from across the UK, warned that “Britain is dangerously unprepared” and that communities are already facing excess deaths, school closures, cancelled hospital appointments and rising food bills as a result of climate and nature breakdown.
Signatories are calling on the PM to
- meet the UK’s international climate and nature commitments;
- pass the Nature + National Security Bill in this Parliament;
- reject all new oil and gas licences, including the UK’s largest undeveloped oil field, Rosebank, and deliver a just transition.
Lead petitioner, Tori Tsui, stood alongside Andy Burnham last year on World Environment Day when the then Greater Manchester Mayor endorsed the Fossil Fuel Non Proliferation Treaty proposal, calling it a “lifeline” to end coal, oil and gas. Today [Friday], her petition was sent to the Prime Minister urging him to stand by that commitment and reject Rosebank.
Despite the Prime Minister telling MPs his Government will “meet the climate challenge” in his first statement to Parliament, campaigners are demanding to see that ambition matched with action after an emergency Cobra meeting on wildfires in August resulted in little more than a ban on disposable barbecues. They are now looking to the Prime Minister’s 10-year plan for Britain, due later this year, to see whether it delivers the urgent action communities need.
Hannah Hartley, a local resident and Zero Hour campaigner, said:
This summer we have seen what inaction and delay looks like in a climate and nature emergency. Here in Greater Manchester there were wildfires in Tintwistle and Saddleworth.
The impacts of extreme heat, wildfires and wetter winters are devastating lives of local residents. Andy Burnham, as our former mayor, took urgent steps to address the climate and nature crisis. Will he now step up as Prime Minister? We’re calling on him to do everything in his power to protect local residents and prioritise climate and nature action to protect Greater Manchester and communities across the UK.
Tori Tsui, said:
Last year Andy Burnham stood alongside me and Massive Attack to back our campaign to stop the expansion of fossil fuel exploitation. A lot has changed since then. Most obviously, Andy is now our Prime Minister.
But while Andy’s political fortunes may have gone up, for communities across the country, the climate and nature crisis has made life worse. A new reality of wildfires, floods, struggling services, and rising costs.
As fossil fuels drive more extreme and erratic weather, communities now living through this crisis will feel devastated if Andy’s commitment as Mayor crumbles into a ‘pragmatic approach’ to oil and gas as Prime Minister.
Rosebank will be the ultimate test: will Andy Burnham stick with the values he was proud to hold as Mayor, or turn his back on the future that he once believed in.
The petition
Dear Prime Minister,
This summer, the UK was in the grip of a ‘firewave’. Sounds like an emergency? Yet despite a COBR meeting, we have had little more than a temporary ban on BBQs. As Britain swelters through heatwaves, wildfires and droughts, communities need real long-term solutions, not short-term sticking plasters.
The climate and nature crisis is here and now: excess deaths, school closures, cancelled hospital appointments and rising food bills. Are you prepared to meet the moment?
And while high temperatures are threatening a spike in heat related deaths, closing down our schools, and impacting our power and water supplies, we’ve also had three of the worst harvests on record in just the last five years, threatening our ability to grow food. The Government has already been forced to buy and demolish homes because they can no longer be protected from rising flood risk. And our own intelligence chiefs have warned that ecosystem collapse poses serious threats to our national security.
This crisis is no longer creeping towards us. It’s crashing through our front doors. And the truth is, Britain is dangerously unprepared and it’s communities that are now paying the price.
But this is not a choice between dealing with climate change or growing our economy – as big oil and gas and some in the media would have you believe. They are one and the same. Britain’s net zero economy is already worth more than £100 billion a year. And as The Confederation of British Industry has confirmed, it’s creating better-paid jobs, delivering growth across the country, and expanding three times faster than the rest of the economy. The route to a safer future is also our greatest opportunity.
Now you’re in Number 10, will you be the first PM to get to grips with the emergency once and for all?
In 2024, as Mayor of Greater Manchester, you backed the Climate and Nature Bill because you recognised that Britain needed bold, science-led action to tackle the twin crises of climate breakdown and nature loss.
Despite your predecessors failing to progress the Bill, the crisis did not disappear. It accelerated.
Now, with the full power of Government behind you, you face a defining choice. Will you deliver the change we need? We urge you to:
- Meet the UK’s international climate and nature commitments
Delivering the promises Britain has made under the Paris Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. - Pass the Nature + National Security Bill in this Parliament
Protecting communities, food security and our economy from the escalating threats posed by ecosystem breakdown and extreme weather. - Reject all new oil and gas licences, including Rosebank, and deliver a just transition
Backing a worker-led transition to clean energy that is properly funded and rooted in the communities driving Britain’s future.
The heat is on, and Britain can’t afford to wait. We need you to act now to secure our future.
Signed as 11,365 residents of the UK.
A press release by Zero Hours.
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