Two million at risk of floods as winters get wetter
A SACKED environmental adviser unleashed a blistering attack on Boris Johnson’s green credentials hours before the PM launched a major climate change summit.
Claire O’Neill, who was fired last week, claimed Mr Johnson had admitted that he does not really understand the issue and accused him of breaking promises.
The row overshadowed a climate crisis event at London’s Science Museum, attended by Sir David Attenborough, with Mr Johnson refusing to answer questions on the dispute with Mrs O’Neill.
She was booted out as president of the COP26 UN summit, which will be held in Glasgow in November, by the PM’s special adviser, Dominic Cummings.
The former Tory energy minister, who quit Parliament at the election, said there had been a “huge lack of leadership” on climate change.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The Prime Minister has made incredibly warm statements about this over the years. He also admitted to me that he doesn’t
AS many as 1.8 million Britons live in areas with significant flood risks, a report warns.
Those affected – more than the populations of Birmingham and Manchester combined – face a £1billion annual bill for damage to homes and belongings.
And a joint report from The Climate Coalition and the Priestley International Centre for Climate warns of worse to come.
It says the UK is already seeing
really understand it. He doesn’t really get it, I think is what he said.” She added: “My advice to anybody to whom Boris is making promises – whether it is voters, world leaders, ministers, employees or indeed family members – is to get it in writing, get a lawyer to look at it and make sure the money is in the bank.”
Mrs O’Neill spoke out as the Government unveiled plans for the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles, including hybrids, to be brought forward by five years to 2035. The Prime Minister told the launch that he wants to see every country following the UK’s lead in setting credible targets to reach net-zero emissions.
He added: “We’ve put so much CO2 in the atmosphere collectively that the entire planet is swaddled in a tea cosy of the stuff.
“It’s predicted, unless we take urgent action, to get 3C hotter, and in the hurricanes and the bushfires and melting of the ice caps and the acidification of the oceans, the evidence is now overwhelming.
“We know as a country, as and put in place plans to end the UK’s contribution to the climate crisis.
The Coalition says improving homes with measures such as better insulation and draughtproofing will play a key role in meeting official targets of cutting emissions to net zero.
Gareth Redmond-King
a planet, as a species, we must act.” The PM said the UK was leading the way by setting a legal goal to reach net zero by 2050, saying: “It’s quite proper that we should, we were the first after all, to industrialise. Look at historic emissions of the UK, we have a responsibility to our planet to lead in this way.”
Sir David said the talks in Glasgow, which are being co-hosted with Italy, were vital. He said: “It’s now up to us to put before nations what has to be done.”
Mrs O’Neill also claimed that Mr
Gareth Redmond-King, head of climate change at WWF-UK, said: “As time ticks past, so the impacts of the climate crisis edge ever closer to home – including right up to, and into our homes, as this report sets out so starkly.”
Alisa Dolgova, a climate change specialist at the Association of British Insurers, said extreme weather events would “inevitably” be reflected in insurance costs.
Johnson has refused to give Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon an official role at the summit.
She said she suggested ending the “stand-off” between the UK and Scottish governments over the global conference but Mr Johnson had “saltily” rejected the proposal.
A spokesman for Ms Sturgeon said yesterday that Mr Johnson had “set the tone” on the climate change row. They added: “That is the basis on which some of this has gone forward, and that is deeply, deeply unfortunate.”