Corbyn digs himself into a hole

JEREMY Corbyn was accused of ‘gesture politics’ last night after announcing a vote on declaring a ‘climate change emergency’ at the same time a Labour council backs a new coalmine.

On Wednesday Mr Corbyn’s party will force MPs to debate whether to declare a climate emergency – a key demand by the Extinction Rebellion eco activists protesting in London last week.

But the move started to unravel when it emerged a Labour-led council in Cumbria had applied to dig for new coal. Challenged on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday, shadow communities secretary Andrew Gwynne could only say: ‘We need to make sure there is proper investment in those green technologies going forward. So now I think that yes, dirty forms of energy, it’s a retrograde step.’

Tory deputy chairman Helen Whately accused Labour of ‘gesture politics’, adding: ‘Labour has no credibility when it comes to energy policy’.