Volunteers from Repair Café Kenilworth headed to parliament last week as part of a huge initiative to press for policies to "make it easier to repair our things".

Members joined other groups from across the country on March 25 for the Parliamentary Repair Café organised by The Restart Project and Back Market, and supported by other organisations including SUEZ and Green Alliance.

This year, the event was bigger than ever before, with over 90 MPs in attendance and 100 repair groups represented from all four UK nations.

Organisers and allies called for "ambitious repair and reuse policies" and celebrated the 143 MPs that have now signed up to the Repair and Reuse Declaration, including Sir Jeremy Wright, MP for Kenilworth & Southam.

The event saw a number of speeches by politicians and campaigners alike including, DEFRA Minister Mary Creagh, The Restart Project, Back Market, and Helen Hayes MP who also signed as the honorary 100th supporter of the Repair and Reuse Declaration.

Team Repair gave a live demonstration to a class of school children who learned to fix their first gadgets.

And after taking Sean Fletcher's broken toaster away with her following an appearance on BBC Breakfast last month, Fixing Factory volunteer Mikayla got to return it to him — now fixed.

Sir Jeremy Wright has signed the Repair and Reuse Declaration (image supplied)

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With the Circular Economy Growth Plan due to be published this spring, the repair community is taking a "timely chance to influence their local politicians".

Repair Café Kenilworth has been running repair events are on the third Saturday of the month (from 2-5pm at Abbey Hill United Reformed Church) since September 2021.

The group averages about 45-50 repairs per café with a success rate of about 70 per cent - "that's a lot if items kept out of landfill, and a lot of money saved," the group said.

"Our success rate would be a lot higher if we could get into the item and buy the spare parts at an economic rate," they said.

"We want the idea to repair something rather than replace it to be the norm, that's why we enjoy taking workshops into the local primary schools plus the satisfaction it gives our repairers to pass on their skills."

Fiona Dear, Co-Director, The Restart Project, says: "It was brilliant to be in Parliament with representatives of 100 of the UK's repair cafes. Repair is something we can all do to save money and reduce waste, but it's often too hard to fix our stuff. We want to show that repair is popular, and that government support to help us to give things a second life will also be popular. "

Katy Medlock, Back Market, says: "We were thrilled to return to Parliament for our third consecutive year alongside our partner, The Restart Project, championing repair and reuse. At Back Market, we're on a mission to shift behaviour around new tech, encouraging more people to make the most from what they already own.

"Extending a device's lifespan from 2.5 to 10 years can reduce carbon emissions by up to 68 per cent, which is why we're calling for greater support of the Repair and Reuse Declaration to help accelerate progress toward a stronger, more sustainable future for repair."

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