Ed Miliband responds to the Prime Minister's COP26 speech

Ed Miliband MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Business, responding to Boris Johnson’s speech at COP26, said:

“It’s vital this summit succeeds and it’s good the Prime Minister has had a wake up call about the dire situation we face. The truth is that he’s been sleepwalking towards Glasgow by failing to treat COP26 with the seriousness it deserves.

“The chances of success would have been much greater if he had recognised two years ago that COP is not a massive international photo op but a complex and fragile negotiation.

“It’s time he realised that lecturing others is all very well, but when he flirts with a new coal mine, strips out temperature commitments from trade deals, opens up massive new oil exploration and cuts overseas aid, he massively undercuts his own standing.

“We now need him to follow through on his rhetoric today over the next fortnight to get the emissions reductions targets the world so desperately needs in this decisive decade to keep 1.5C alive.”