In order to better understand how Conservative party members view environmental concerns, this piece asks members directly. Previous research has focused on statistical data, which can only tell half a story. This piece attempts to provide a holistic overview, exploring Conservative opinion through a more individualistic and personal approach. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative data was acquired from a single English constituency, testing members from all levels of the party, from activists to a backbench MP. A survey of 30 participants and 4 semi-structured interviews provided a large variety data on a broad range of environmental topics that had been extrapolated from existing literature. This piece is explicitly exploratory, asking a wide range of questions in order to add a layer of detail to existing work and identify areas for further study.
A thematic analysis showed a broad range opinions, such as climate change apathy and scepticism, a detailed and complex relationship between the economy and the environment, a strong desire for reliable energy, but some renewables are seen to be less reliable than others, Nuclear energy being surprisingly popular with climate change sceptics.
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