LABOUR’S local election candidate for Wharfedale stood with young climate change protestors at a rally in Leeds.

Chris Hayden showed his support by joining students from schools, colleges and universities at the YouthStrike4Climate demonstration outside Leeds Town Hall last week.

He said: “Today I have stood alongside an incredibly passionate group of young people who live in Wharfedale and are demanding to be heard when it comes to their future existence. We need to see serious action on climate change now to tackle this defining issue.”

The UK Student Climate Network and students across the world are calling on governments to take urgent action on climate and environmental change described as “potentially catastrophic.”

Mr Hayden said: “I met knowledgeable young people who are actively campaigning for all public bodies to divest from fossil fuels, a movement that I support, not only because we should be investing in sustainable energy over destructive fossil fuels, but because the economic risk to remain heavily committed to an industry with no long term future is fiscally irresponsible.

“The Labour Party has announced that in government we would tackle climate change with an economic revolution, creating hundreds of thousands of high-skilled green jobs with a target of a zero-carbon future. I want to see our country leading the world on the green revolution that is needed to sustain our existence on Earth.”