TORY AID CUTS ‘UNDERMINED CLIMATE CALLS’
Miliband slams ‘disappointed’ PM for COP26 fail
We cannot force other nations to do what they do not want to do
BORIS JOHNSON TAKES SWIPE AT CHINA & INDIA
BORIS Johnson has admitted “disappointment” over the COP26 climate deal which Labour said was “undermined” by the UK’s decision to slash foreign aid.
Speaking at Downing Street, the Prime Minister insisted the summit had “sounded the death knell for coal power” but also accepted that the pact did not go far enough.
COP President Alok Sharma was emotional at the UN summit as world leaders backed a deal to “phase down” rather than “phase out” coal use.
The PM rated the agreement as “over six out of 10” as he took a swipe at China and
India for watering down commitments to end coal use. “We cannot force sovereign nations to do what they do not want to do,” he said. But Shadow Business and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the government “stepping back” on foreign aid last year “didn’t help”. He said: “I have nothing but praise for Alok Sharma and the job he did as COP president but I’m afraid the rest of the Government undermined him with decisions like cutting overseas aid . “We were then saying ‘please step up on climate finance’, when we were stepping back on aid.” Nearly 200 countries signed up to the Glasgow climate pact after crunch negotiations ran into extra time on Saturday. It marks the first time there has been an explicit commitment to curb coal use, the worst fuel for greenhouse gas emissions.
Mr Johnson hailed the “historic” pact but added: “My delight is tinged with disappointment.
“Those for whom climate change is already a matter of life and death demanded a high level of ambition. While many of us were willing to go there, that wasn’t true of everybody.”
But he dismissed the idea of using trade talks with India to push for progress. The PM also mistakenly referred to the summit as being in Edinburgh rather than Glasgow.
HOT air and self-congratulation won’t save the planet, and the UK Government failed its biggest test on the world stage at COP26. Summit president Alok Sharma and Boris Johnson patting themselves on the back was as delusional as China, Russia and Saudi Arabia failing to cut destructive emissions sooner and faster.
Global heating will exceed 1.5C, triggering fatal climate change, so COP26 was CRAP26. Nations will have to try again – and the hard truth is Britain needs to do better.
Labour’s Ed Miliband coming out against opening a Cambo oilfield in the North Sea, that would be equivalent to 18 coal-fired power stations burning for a year, is a pivotal moment.
The refusal by the Tories and SNP to oppose the development helps Labour’s green pitch to the next generation and to the oldies concerned about their grandchildren.
THERE are upwards of 165,000 dead reasons why shameless Matt Hancock shouldn’t be paid £100k for boasting he was a Covid hero but the hands-face-space invader’s hypocrisy strengthens the case for an immediate public inquiry.
As the rule-breaking ex-Health Secretary prepares to intrude into his family’s privacy – after demanding the photo of him getting to grips with lover Gina Coladangelo never be seen again because it upsets the kids he left behind when he dumped their mum – Handycock, as MPs call him, is giving grieving families another reason to despise him. Politicians in a hole should stop digging. His will be a very deep Westminster grave.