Carolling santas and elves bring climate message to Robertsbridge

Sample lyrics included the following (to the tune of 'Away in a Manger'): 'BP, Shell and Exxon, want to keep burning oil / If we let them continue then the planet will boil / Oh Councillor Redstone, of you we request / That you do some hard thinking, and then support divest'.

East Sussex County Council (ESCC) declared a ‘climate emergency’ in 2019, but continues to invest tens of millions of pounds of local people’s pensions (the ‘East Sussex Pension Fund’) in the giant fossil fuel companies, like Shell and BP, that are driving the climate crisis.

County Councillor, Paul Redstone (Conservative, Northern Rother), is one of five Councillors with decision-making responsibility for the Fund. In July he sided with Big Oil, voting against a proposal for the Fund to stop investing in these companies.

A spokesperson for Divest East Sussex, which has been campaigning on this issue for over nine years, said: 'David Attenborough says that 'It’s crazy that our banks and our pensions are investing in fossil fuel, when these are the very things that are jeopardising the future that we are saving for.' He's right. Bexhill Town Council, Brighton & Hove City Council, Hastings Borough Council, Lewes District Council, Lewes Town Council, Peacehaven Town Council, UNISON, Maria Caulfield MP (Conservative, Lewes) and Caroline Lucas MP (Green, Brighton Pavilion) have all called on the East Sussex Pension Fund to make a public commitment to stop investing in fossil fuels. We hope that in 2023, Councillor Redstone will listen to them and cast his vote accordingly.'