Repairability

Parliamentary Repair Cafe (June 2025) – pushing for more repair legislation

Another Parliamentary Repair Cafe took place in June 2025, this time in the House of Lords. It is part of a push for better repair legislation in the UK.

The event was a follow up from the Parliamentary Repair event in 2024 (an earlier post). The aim was to engage UK politicians with repair and reuse, and to build support for the Repair and Reuse Declaration. This will hopefully lead to new legislation to eventually improve our right to repair.

The event was held in partnership with Back Market, and support from SUEZ, Green Alliance and the CRN. ⁠ A highlight of the day a speech by Circular Economies Minister Mary Creagh, who has set up the Circular Economy Taskforce promising a roadmap for circular electricals (and electronics) by early 2026. It is hoped this will deliver the new legislation.

The event was sponsored by Baroness Parminter and Jeremy Vine. Jeremy told the story of his ‘unrepairable’ Segway, which is less than 3 years old!! Difficult to open, replacement parts unavailable, manufacturer unwilling to help. A story that is all too familiar.

The event offered MPs and their staff an opportunity to get a sense of a community repair event (e.g. a repair cafe) with three volunteers (from the Community Repair Network) performing repairs on the day. Other representatives from Restart and Repair Cafes from across the UK attended to engage with their local MPs.

Over 35 MPs and their staff were in attendance, there was good support for the Declaration and this is hopefully another step towards increased support for the UK Repair and Reuse Declaration and new legislation.

Progress on Repair

Two bits of encouraging news about repair and our rights appeared in the last couple of days.

First: In the European Parliament MEPs want more durable and more easily repairable products. On Thursday 7 April, Parliament adopted its demands for an upcoming European Commission proposal on the right to repair planned for later in 2022, with 509 votes in favour, 3 against and 13 abstentions.

Second: iFixit and Google are Launching a Genuine Pixel Parts Program. Google is the latest manufacturer to partner with DIY repair specialists iFixit to offer spare parts for its devices. It should make it far easier for customers to get parts to repair their own Pixel smartphone if it breaks. Parts like batteries, displays, and cameras will be available to purchase in the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, and other European countries. Google says that parts will be available to purchase “later this year”.

Whilst these are both encouraging, there is still a long way to go before we have meaningful rights to repair and manufacturers embrace repairability.

Self-repair programs are not a real right to repair victory. It doesn’t guarantee you will be able to fix your phone.