---
title: As Britain battles firewaves, just 34 MPs back a ban on oil and gas political donations
date: 2026-07-14T13:40:08Z
modified: 2026-07-14T15:45:41Z
permalink: "https://350.org/press-release/as-britain-battles-firewaves-just-34-mps-back-a-ban-on-oil-and-gas-political-donations/"
type: press-release
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 175531458
author: kimbryan
---

#### **As Britain battles firewaves, just 34 MPs back a ban on oil and gas political donations**

As wildfires burn across parts of Britain, the latest flashpoint in a summer already marked by record heat, 350.org is calling on MPs across all parties to back an **[amendment to the Representation of the People Bill](https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4080/stages/20676/amendments/10035052)** that would ban political parties from accepting donations from oil and gas companies. So far, 34 of 650 MPs have signed it.

The [amendment NC22](https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4080/stages/20676/amendments/10035052) tabled by Richard Burgon MP, would close off a route that has allowed oil and gas companies to fund political parties for years. 350.org argues that these donations have helped delay climate action, kept public money flowing to fossil fuel projects, and made it harder for the government to properly tax the industry or hold it responsible for the cost of climate disasters, disasters now visibly playing out on British soil, from this summer’s wildfires to the record May, June and July heat domes that preceded them.

The organisation is now urging the public to write to their MPs asking them to support the amendment, arguing that the same logic already applied to other harmful industries should apply here too. For example, [90% of donations](https://www.desmog.com/2026/04/30/reform-uk-nigel-farage-millions-donations-fossil-fuel-interests-climate-science-deniers/) to Reform UK are from oil and gas interests.

**Ellie May, Campaigner at 350.org, said:**

“We are living through our 3rd heatwave in as many months, we’re watching wildfires take hold across Britain, we know what burning oil and gas does to our climate. And we’re all paying for it, overwhelmed hospitals, delayed ambulances, buckled train tracks, children sent home from school, and now fires forcing people from their homes. Ordinary people are bearing the cost while oil and gas companies pocket the profit, and energy bills have just jumped by over £200.

Politicians have failed to act because oil and gas companies have bought access to our political leaders through hefty donations, and that access is costing us our safety, our health, and our money. That’s why MPs must back an amendment to ban oil and gas donations to political parties. That only 34 of 650 MPs have signed it, despite the devastating evidence of the destruction burning oil and gas has caused, says it all. Money from polluters should not have more influence over our government than the lives of the people it’s supposed to serve. MPs need to decide: are they with oil and gas companies, or ordinary people watching their communities burn and struggling to pay their bills?”

350.org points to research from its own[ Out of Pocket](https://350.org/out-of-pocket-report/?r=GB&c=EU) report showing that communities already pay for fossil fuels three times over: through their taxes, through their energy bills, and through the escalating cost of climate damages, costs the organisation argues are made worse by an industry able to buy political access and shape the laws that govern it.

##### **Ends**