RAZORLIGHT - RAZORLIGHT STAR TO HAVE MPS' BACKING AT CLIMATE CHANGE GIG

RAZORLIGHT STAR TO HAVE MPS' BACKING AT CLIMATE CHANGE GIG

Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell will be joined by a support group of politicians as part of an exclusive climate change concert.

The Big Ask, a climate change campaign organised by Friends of the Earth, has played an integral role in convincing the government to commit to legally binding reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.

But with emissions from aviation and shipping not currently included in the climate change bill, five MPs are abandoning partisan differences to play as Borrell's backing band at the June 3rd show.

Borrell is to play a one-off acoustic show in front of a commercial jet in the aviation room of London's Science Museum to highlight the importance of including aviation emissions in the climate change bill.

And supporting him on stage will be Conservative MP Anne Milton, Labour's Emily Thornberry and Ian Cawsey, Liberal Democrat Lembit Opik and the only MP to have played on Top of the Pops, ex-Runrig band member Peter Wishart of the Scottish National party.

The five-piece - dubbed the Aviators for the occasion - will perform a rendition of John Denver's Leaving on a Jet Plane in a bid to encourage fellow MPs to vote to include aviation and shipping emission in the bill.

Mr Opik, no stranger to publicity himself, said that hundreds of constituents had contacted him Friends of the Earth's Big Ask campaign.

"I think it would be a great travesty to repay them with a law too weak to be compatible with stopping climate change," he added.

"All other sectors of the economy will have to play their part in the fight against climate change, and aviation should be no exception."

Borrell explained his involvement last week by saying: "I want to help make sure people know what's happening while there's still time to influence the law."

The Golden Touch star added: "The more people who get on board and email their MP at www.thebigask.com, the more chance we have of getting a sensible law."