Chaos with Ed Miliband at PMQs as he claims ‘Cop26 is not a glorified photo opportunity’
Ed Miliband took Boris Johnson to task over the UK’s efforts to cut carbon emissions at today’s PMQs.
The former Labour leader was stepping in for Sir Keir Starmer, who is unable to attend because he tested positive for Covid-19 this morning, meaning he will miss today’s Budget.
As he rose to his feet to cheers, heckles and general rowdy noises from colleagues, he joked that it was ‘just like the old days’.
With the UN COP26 climate summit in Glasgow around the corner, Miliband pressed the PM on what the Government is doing to save the planet.
Miliband said Johnson had undermined his own COP presidency by ‘saying one thing and doing another’.
He highlighted a lack of commitment to the climate in trade deals and telling others to abandon fossil fuels while not doing so as a Government.
Miliband pointed that the UK is currently only on track to cut carbon by 7.5% by 2030, rather than the half needed to prevent global temperatures rising to 1.5C.
He told the Commons: ‘It’s easy to make promises for 30 years’ time, it’s much more difficult to act now.
‘The thing the Prime Minister has underestimated throughout these last two years, is COP26 is not a glorified photo opportunity, it’s a fragile and complex negotiation.’
‘The problem is the Prime Minister’s boosterism won’t cut carbon emissions in half; photo opportunities won’t cut carbon emissions in half.
‘Can I just say to the Prime Minister: in these final days before Cop26 we need more than warm words.
‘Above all, Glasgow has got to be a summit of climate delivery, not climate delay.’
Johnson said Miliband was ‘completely wrong’ about him undermining his COP presidency and also sought to downplay his Government’s foreign aid cuts.
The PM added: ‘He talks about cutting CO2 in half, that’s virtually what this country, this Government has done.
‘Since 1990 we’ve cut CO2 by 44% and the economy has grown by 78%. That’s our approach – a sensible, pragmatic, Conservative approach that cuts CO2, that tackles climate change and that delivers high-wage, high-skilled jobs across this country.’
It’s been some time since Ed Miliband was last acting as Leader of the Opposition in the Commons.
He resigned as Labour leader after losing the May 2015 election to the Conservative Party.
His contender David Cameron told voters they had a ‘simple and inescapable’ choice of ‘stability and strong Government with me, or chaos with Ed Miliband’.
This was before he held the EU referendum the following year, warning people that it would be ‘Armageddon’ if Britain actually left the bloc.
Since then Miliband has made light of his rival’s remarks, changing his Twitter name to ‘Chaos With Ed Miliband’ in 2019.
It cams as Cameron’s successor Theresa May’s resignation over her failed Brexit negotiations.
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