Minister’s Questions: Share Skipton at the Parliamentary Repair Café 2026
On the 25th of March, Share Skipton travelled down to London for a special Repair Café in the Houses of Parliament, as part of a national call to the government to integrate accessible, affordable repairs into UK policy. The event was organised by charity The Restart Project and refurbished item marketplace Back Market, supported by organisations including Green Alliance and SUEZ Recycling & Recovery, and attended by MPs, policymakers, and sustainability leaders.
Representatives from 100 Repair Cafés from all over the UK were present too, including Louise from the fabulous Silsden Repair Café. Share Skipton’s voice was carried by volunteer co-ordinator Morgan, who engaged directly with MPs to help demonstrate how local projects like ours play a vital role in enabling sustainability.
“We’re proud to be supporting the Skipton community to repair and reuse their belongings. Repair brings people together, saves money, and reduces waste, but too often, it’s harder than it should be. We’d love to see stronger support at a national level to help repair thrive in communities like ours.”
Around 90 MPs belonging to all major parties visited, some bringing their own broken items to mend and witness first-hand how it all works. Most importantly, the day saw a significant show of support for economic policy improvement: 143 MPs pledged to back a new Repair and Reuse Declaration, aimed at bolstering the government’s long-term Circular Economy Growth Plan. The declaration includes measures such as: requiring manufacturers to add repairability score labels to their goods so consumers can make better-informed choices, prioritising product reuse and repair over less-efficient recycling, and giving repair skills a more central place in professional engineering and design courses.
Repair café volunteers shared inspiring stories of items fixed across the UK, and it was a great opportunity for us to exchange ideas and strengthen connections with groups who share Share Skipton’s vision.
There were also talks from special guests and key figures in the sustainability sector, covering topics such as promising news in the world of policy development, the environmental benefits of repair, and the role of both businesses and the public in reducing waste.
“Extending a device’s lifespan from 2.5 to 10 years can reduce carbon emissions by up to 68%, which is why we’re calling for greater support of the Repair and Reuse Declaration.”
“You cannot build a sustainable future on a throwaway economy. We cannot do it alone. I know so many of you are doing brilliant work in your towns and cities. .. Keep demanding better. Keep putting pressure on me and all the backbench MPs that are part of your constituency and community. .. Together we can build an economy that keeps things in use, keeps value in circulation, keeps this planet worthy of inherence for these young people.”
“.. one of our wedding presents was a Dualit toaster. .. for over 20 years, I was replacing the elements every time they went. .. it’s kind of symbolic to our marriage. .. about three years ago it died. .. I called Dualit .. they said, we don’t do that any more. .. And here I am today, and it works!”
Back home in Yorkshire, Share Skipton’s own free monthly Repair Cafés follow a similar collaborative format – we invite you to bring along your damaged clothing, small electricals, and other household goods so our experienced volunteer fixers can help mend them. We’ve already supported hundreds of repairs since our first event in 2025, currently with an ~82% success rate (which can only stand to improve once the terms of the Repair and Reuse Declaration are taken up).
And of course, our library of Things always has a well-maintained stock of fun and useful equipment for you to borrow, the kinds of rare- and occasional-use items that it’d be a waste to have to buy and find room to store.
Finally, if you’d like to help us provide this important service by giving your time and/or experience, please visit our volunteering page to find a role that suits you. Or discover other ways to support us here.
Heading home (public transport for the win)
References and further reading:
We brought the repair community back to Parliament (therestartproject.org) , The UK Repair and Reuse Declaration (therestartproject.org) , The Circular Economy Growth Plan (erp-recycling.org) , Britain is second highest source of e-waste per person (keepbritaintidy.org) , Some things, you don’t just replace: 27-year-old wedding toaster (@fixingfactories) , Mary Creagh MP speech (@totallyleightonbuzzard) , Silsden Repair Café (climateactionsilsden.org.uk) , Refurbishing commitments (backmarket.co.uk) , Promote circular economy: waste becomes a resource (suez.com) , ’Who loves the circular economy?’ podcast (green-alliance.org.uk)
