Members of all three main UK parties have signed a Commons motion calling for the radical move as part of a raft of measures designed to reduce environmental damage.

At least two hours of prime time television per week should be used to warn people of the climate change crisis facing the world, the MPs say, and a speed limit of 55mph should be introduced on roads.

The 14 MPs who have signed the motion so far argue that the "catastrophic destabilisation of global climate” is the “greatest threat that humanity faces",

The majority of money spent on lifting the economy out of recession should go on green measures, the motion says, with the package as a whole sending out a positive signal to other countries ahead of UN talks on a climate change deal which will take place in Copenhagen this December.

The motion was tabled by Labour's Colin Challen (Morley and Rothwell) and is signed by party colleagues John Austin (Erith and Thamesmead), Michael Clapham (Barnsley W and Penistone), Ann Cryer (Keighley), David Drew (Stroud), Neil Gerrard (Walthamstow), Stephen Hepburn (Jarrow), Lindsay Hoyle (Chorley), John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) and Stephen Pound (Ealing N).

Tory former minister Peter Bottomley (Worthing W) and Liberal Democrats Mike Hancock (Portsmouth S), Paul Holmes (Chesterfield) and Andrew Stunell (Hazel Grove) have also signed it.