‘More pressing events for Sunak than COP summit’

THE Environment Secretary today defended Rishi Sunak’s decision not to attend COP27 after he was accused of “a failure of leadership” for dodging the climate summit.

- Rachael Burford

Thérèse Coffey insisted the “big political moments” tend to happen at the conference every five years and Mr Sunak had more urgent matters at home, including the upcoming Budget.

The international meeting is due to take place in Egypt between November 6 and 18.

Downing Street said the new Prime Minister has “other pressing domestic commitments including preparations for the autumn Budget”.

Ms Coffey argued that Mr Sunak was “prioritising” the fiscal statement, which he delayed to November 17, and said this year’s summit would be more “low key”. She told LBC: “The UK continues to show global leadership as opposed to just a gathering of people in Egypt.”

Sunak criticised as he prioritises Budget over key climate summit

It comes after Mr Sunak demoted two ministers with responsibility for tackling climate change. COP president Alok Sharma and climate minister Graham Stuart kept the jobs they had held under previous Prime Minister Liz Truss but were removed from the Cabinet.