Summary of today's developments
Rishi Sunak has come under scrutiny from opposition ministers and environmental groups, who called his decision not to attend Cop27 a “failure” and said it brought into question government commitments to prioritise net zero and tackle the climate crisis.
King Charles is free to decide whether or not to attend the Cop27 climate summit, the new environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, has said as she defended the decision of the prime minister not to go. Earlier this month, sources told the Guardian the king would not attend the international gathering in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, after reports that the former prime minister, Liz Truss, had intervened.
The UK’s windfall tax on oil and gas profits must be changed to raise billions more and to stop companies using loopholes to invest in further fossil fuel extraction, the outgoing president of global climate talks, Alok Sharma, has said.
The government has delayed publication of clean water and biodiversity targets, putting it in breach of its Environment Act, ministers have admitted. Coffey published a written ministerial statement on Friday confirming that the targets underpinning the country’s nature recovery would not be released on 31 October as promised.
Sunak has dropped his Conservative leadership campaign pledge to fine patients £10 if they miss a GP or hospital appointment. The prime minister had told Tory members in August it was “wrong” that there are “15m missed appointments every year NHS” at GPs and hospitals, as he justified the fine as a “tough” measure to change people’s behaviour.
Sunak got a taste of how the “difficult decisions” he has said will guide spending cuts may go down with the public, when he was challenged by a hospital patient about nurses’ pay. When 77-year old Catherine Poole was asked by Sunak if the staff had looked after “really nicely”, she looked him straight in the eye and replied: “They always do. It is a pity you don’t pay them more.”
Sunak refused to deny suggestions that officials warned him against reappointing Suella Braverman as home secretary. He said he was confident Braverman had “learned from her mistake” and insisted he does not regret the appointment.
Northern Ireland is on course for a snap election after a recall of the Stormont assembly failed to elect a speaker and break political deadlock. The Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, said he is “extremely disappointed” that a last-ditch effort to restore the multiparty executive at Stormont failed.
Nicola Sturgeon will travel to Egypt for the Cop27 climate summit, the Scottish government has announced.
A spokesperson for the Scottish government told PA news agency:
Given the vital importance of governments working together to tackle climate change, it is the first minister’s intention to attend Cop27.
Details of the ministerial programme are currently being finalised.
Updated
Here’s the clip of Rishi Sunak being challenged by Catherine Poole, 77, a patient at Croydon university hospital in south London, who told the prime minister he needs to “try harder” for NHS staff.
Updated
Northern Ireland secretary confirms he will call an election
The Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, has said he will call an assembly election but has not set any date for it.
Heaton-Harris said he would provide an update next week and would be meeting the parties in the meantime.
He told reporters:
I hear it when parties say that they really do not want an election at all. But nearly all of them are parties who signed up to the law that means I need to call an election, so you’ll hear more from me on that particular point next week.
Northern Ireland Secretary @chhcalling
— UTV Live News (@UTVNews) October 28, 2022
confirms he will call an election but yet to set date.
More here: https://t.co/WRcahRsEuc pic.twitter.com/sZt0K74nxR
Updated
The Tory MP Jonathan Gullis has confirmed he has been sacked as the school standards minister and will be returning to the backbenches.
Gullis was appointed to the role by Liz Truss last month and has now been replaced by Nick Gibb in Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle.
In a Facebook post, he wrote:
Having spoken with the prime minister yesterday afternoon, it is with sadness to update you that I will no longer be a minister in His Majesty’s government. The prime minister will have my full support from the backbenches, and I thank him for his kindness in our conversation.
He added:
It was an honour to serve as the minister for school standards in the Department for Education, and whilst I’m disappointed not to have had longer, I’m honoured to have had the chance to serve.
Updated
Windfall tax must change in face of ‘excessive’ oil profits, Alok Sharma says
The UK’s windfall tax on oil and gas profits must be changed to raise billions more and to stop companies using loopholes to invest in further fossil fuel extraction, the outgoing president of global climate talks has said.
“These are excessive profits, and they have to be treated in the appropriate way when it comes to taxation,” said Alok Sharma, the president of the Cop26 UN climate summit.
We ought to be going further and seeing what more can be done in terms of raising additional finance [from the profits]. So far, at least, the level of money raised is obviously not significant.
The UK is facing a cost of living crisis and the Treasury needs to fill an estimated £50bn hole in the country’s finances.
Shell admitted this week it had paid no windfall tax despite having made a record $30bn in profits for the year so far.
Updated
Rishi Sunak has tweeted about his earlier call with President Emmanuel Macron, where he stressed the relationship between the UK and France was as “allies with cultural links that span centuries”.
The UK and France are allies with cultural links that span centuries. Our cooperation is vital across a huge range of areas, from supporting Ukraine to our own defence and energy security.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 28, 2022
It's in that spirit that I am looking forward to working with President @EmmanuelMacron. pic.twitter.com/yBBNoQSdKD
During the summer Tory leadership campaign, Liz Truss was criticised for saying the “jury was still out” when asked if the French president was a “friend or foe” of Britain.
Updated
No 10 forced to deny Sunak video contains music by Gary Glitter
Downing Street has been forced to deny that a slick new video of Rishi Sunak’s first week as prime minister contains music by the convicted paedophile Gary Glitter.
No 10 published the video on Twitter on Friday morning with the caption: “Together we can achieve incredible things. Now let’s get to work.”
The video features backing music that many on social media said was strikingly similar to Glitter’s hit song Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Glitter, 76, whose name is Paul Gadd, was jailed in 2015 for 16 years for attempted rape, unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 13, and four counts of indecent assault.
In 2002, he was expelled from Cambodia over unspecified allegations, and in March 2006 he was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam.
The prime minister’s spokesperson said “stock music” was used for the backing track. She added: “I’m not aware of it costing anything additional to the work that we do in communicating for the prime minister.”
Together we can achieve incredible things.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 28, 2022
Now let's get to work 👇 pic.twitter.com/yqzPR9Wzgq
Updated
Severe spending cuts and tax rises are due to be imposed by Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt within weeks because ministers “crashed the economy”, Keir Starmer has said as he renewed calls for a general election.
The Labour leader said people were already “paying the price” for government mistakes, after reports that a buffer in the public finances could be created by trying to claw back £50bn – significantly greater than the expected £35bn fiscal black hole.
A long-awaited statement laying out the plans was pushed back by Sunak from 31 October to 17 November, and the chancellor is holding meetings with cabinet ministers this week to discuss where the axe should fall.
Seeking to tie Sunak to the economic chaos caused by his predecessor, Liz Truss, Starmer said during a visit to a school in Thurrock: “We were not even talking about cuts a month ago.” He added: “The whole discussion about cuts has become an issue only because the government has crashed the economy.”
PA have a clip of Rishi Sunak’s encounter with a patient at Croydon university hospital when the PM was told to “try harder” on nurses’ pay:
"No you're not trying, you need to try harder."
— PA Media (@PA) October 28, 2022
This is the moment Catherine Poole, a 77-year-old patient at Croydon University Hospital, confronted Prime Minister Rishi Sunak about nurses' pay pic.twitter.com/i887WPssEN
Updated
Rishi Sunak has denied that his decision not to attend the Cop27 climate summit is a failure of leadership, arguing that the UK has shown “unmatched” leadership on the climate crisis.
Sunak said he was “very passionate’ and “very personally committed” to the environment.
It came after Labour leader Keir Starmer accused the prime minister of an “absolute failure of leadership” in deciding not to attend the conference, which begins in Egypt next month.
You can watch their statements here:
Updated
Rishi Sunak has suggested Suella Braverman “raised” the issue of her security breach with him while he discussed reappointing her as home secretary, in an apparent clarification of the account he gave to MPs.
The prime minister sparked a backlash by bringing Braverman back into the cabinet despite the fact she had quit only days before, having been caught sending a Tory backbencher a sensitive document from a personal email account, twice breaching the ministerial code.
Speaking in the Commons on Wednesday, he said she had “recognised” her “error of judgment” and “raised the matter”, which some interpreted to mean she reported her own mistake prior to her departure, rather than being presented with the evidence – a position which seems to have been contradicted by the former Tory party chair Sir Jake Berry.
But on Friday, Sunak appeared to suggest he was actually referring to a conversation he had with Braverman while considering whether to return her to the role.
Labour had called for him to “swiftly” clarify the circumstances surrounding the row, saying he must “correct the record” if he misled parliament.
Speaking to broadcasters during a visit to Croydon university hospital, he said Braverman “raised” the issue with him while he discussed her reappointment.
“Now, as I said in parliament earlier this week, she raised this topic with me when I discussed reappointing her as home secretary and I’m confident that she’s learned from her mistake,” he said.
He also again declined to deny suggestions officials warned him against reinstating Braverman, insisting he does not regret the move. “The home secretary has acknowledged the mistake, she’s recognised she made a mistake, she’s taken accountability for that and that’s the right thing,” he said.
Updated
Northern Ireland is about to test the dictum that doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity.
Political deadlock triggered a forthcoming assembly election that is expected to broadly replicate the result of an election last May and produce the same deadlock. That it will take place in winter underlines the sense of Groundhog Day, except it is an entire region of 1.9 million people reliving the same experience.
Despite the sense of futility, posters will adorn lampposts, canvassers will knock on doors, party leaders will debate on TV and voters will troop to polling stations. And then, bar a dramatic surprise, a familiar political landscape will emerge in which the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) continues to boycott power sharing – in protest against the post-Brexit Irish Sea border – and paralyse the Stormont assembly and executive.
“The people spoke in May. Why make the people speak again?” said Jon Tonge, a politics professor at the University of Liverpool and an authority on Northern Ireland elections.
This is just going to harden things. That’s why it’s a catastrophically stupid thing to do. It will just confirm the impasse.
King Charles will not attend Cop27 in Egypt, No 10 confirms
King Charles will not attend the Cop27 summit, Downing Street has said, as it is not the “right occasion” for him to do so.
The former prime minister Liz Truss had asked the king not to attend the summit, and her successor, Rishi Sunak, has left it in place, No 10 confirmed today.
The new monarch is famously passionate about the climate emergency, but according to Downing Street, it was “unanimously agreed” by Buckingham Palace and the government that the king would not attend.
Downing Street said Sunak and the king’s absence did not mean environmental issues had slipped down the agenda as three cabinet ministers – the foreign, business and environment secretaries – would attend the summit.
But hours before this announcement, the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, described the summit to just “a gathering of people in Egypt”.
Asked why the prime minister was not going to the Cop27 summit, she told LBC:
The politically big significant things happen every five years … while at the same time, of course, the UK continues to show global leadership, as opposed to just a gathering of people in Egypt.
She had earlier said that it was up to Charles to decide whether or not to attend the summit.
The prime minister has faced criticism for deciding to snub the summit because of other “pressing domestic commitments”.
During his visit to Croydon university hospital earlier, Rishi Sunak was challenged by a patient who told the prime minister he needed to “try harder”.
The patient could be heard telling the PM:
You need to pay them.
When Sunak said his government was trying, she replied:
You are not trying, you need to try harder.
Sunak was later asked whether he was happy that nurses were not getting a real-term increase in pay. He dodged the question, saying instead that he was confident that he could “deliver on the promise of the 2019 manifesto, including having a stronger NHS”.
Updated
Sunak U-turns on plan to fine patients for missing GP appointments
Downing Street has said Rishi Sunak has backed down on a Tory leadership campaign pledge to fine patients for missing GP and hospital appointments.
During the summer Conservative leadership contest, Sunak vowed to fine people £10 for missing an NHS appointment without providing sufficient notice.
A No 10 spokesperson said “now is not the right time to take this policy forward”. They said:
The PM wants to deliver a stronger NHS and the sentiment remains that people should not be missing their appointments and taking up NHS time.
But we have listened to GPs and health leaders, and have acknowledged that now is not the right time to take this policy forward.
Updated
The government has delayed publication of clean water and biodiversity targets, putting it in breach of its Environment Act, ministers have admitted.
Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary, on Friday published a written ministerial statement confirming that the targets underpinning the country’s nature recovery would not be released on 31 October as promised.
This could prove an embarrassment on the world stage at the Cop27 UN climate talks in November, as the deadline was set so the delegation would have biodiversity and nature targets to present to other countries.
Coffey did not give a new date for the publication of the targets, and it is understood to be unlikely they will be announced by the second week of the international climate summit, which is when biodiversity and nature are expected to be discussed.
The statement reads that in light of a “significant public response” to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ consultation on nature recovery, “we will not be able to publish targets by 31 October, as required by the act”.
She added the department would “continue to work at pace in order to lay draft statutory instruments as soon as practicable” and that the government would “remain committed to our future target to halt the decline in species by 2030”.
Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP, said:
Defra admits in a cursory statement slipped out this morning that it’s failed to fulfil statutory duty to publish environment bill targets. This matters. Yet the government claims they have capacity to review 570 green laws by end of next year under the retained EU law bill! Madness.
Updated
Asked about talk of a £50bn black hole in the nation’s finances, Sunak acknowledged “mistakes have been made” by the previous government and said “difficult decisions” will “have to be made”.
He said:
I acknowledged that mistakes have been made and part of why I’m now prime minister is my job is to fix them – and I’m confident that we can.
The chancellor has already said, of course, difficult decisions are going to have to be made. And I’m going to sit down and work through those with him.
But what I want everyone to know is that we need to do these things so that we can get our borrowing and debt back on a sustainable path.
He said he wanted people “to be reassured” that he would put “fairness at the heart” of these difficult decisions, adding:
We will protect the most vulnerable and ensure that we can continue to grow the economy in the long run.
Updated
Rishi Sunak denied his decision not to attend the Cop27 climate summit is a “massive failure of leadership”, arguing that the UK has shown “unmatched” leadership on the climate crisis compared with other countries.
Sunak said he is “very passionate” and “very personally committed” to the environment, adding:
I just think, at the moment, it’s right that I’m also focusing on the depressing domestic challenges we have with the economy.
Updated
Asked whether there was an ongoing “civil war” within the Conservative party, Rishi Sunak insisted his party is “united”. He told reporters:
I am confident that our party is united. It is united behind delivering on the promise of the manifesto that we were elected on, with very strong support, in 2019.
Sunak 'confident' that Braverman has 'learned from her mistake'
Rishi Sunak refused to deny suggestions that officials warned him against reappointing Suella Braverman as home secretary.
Speaking to journalists during his first public outing as prime minister, on a visit to Croydon university hospital, Sunak said:
The home secretary has acknowledged the mistake, she’s recognised she made a mistake, she’s taken accountability for that and that’s the right thing.
Now, as I said in parliament earlier this week, she raised this topic with me when I discussed reappointing her as home secretary and I’m confident that she’s learned from her mistake.
Is this a clarification from Rishi Sunak on Suella Braverman?
— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) October 28, 2022
At PMQs he said "she raised the matter", taken to be with Simon Case.
Today he said: "As I said in parliament earlier this week, she raised this topic with me when I discussed re-appointing her as home secretary."
He insisted he does not regret the appointment:
As I have said, she’s accepted her mistake and learned from it, and I’m confident of that.
Updated
No 10 says 'unanimously agreed' under Truss that King shouldn't go to Cop27 climate summit
Downing Street said it was “unanimously agreed” by Buckingham Palace and the government that the King would not attend the Cop27 climate summit under Liz Truss’s premiership.
A No 10 spokesperson said government advice was sought, as is “standard practice”, and it was agreed it was not the “right occasion” for Charles to visit in person. She said:
As is standard practice, government advice was sought and provided under a previous PM, and it was unanimously agreed that it would not be the right occasion for the King to visit in person.
She added she is “not aware” that the advice has changed.
The environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, claimed this morning that it was up to the King whether he attends the climate summit in Egypt next month. She told Sky News:
I think it’s up to him. I know that he takes an interest in this particular issue, but it’s up to him.
Downing Street said the government remains “absolutely committed” to leading international action on climate change despite Rishi Sunak’s absence at Cop27.
Asked about the former culture secretary Nadine Dorries’ tweet that it was wrong for Sunak to skip the conference, the No 10 spokesperson said:
We are facing serious economic challenges. The prime minister is focused on dealing with those issues, and the public, I think, would also expect him to be in the country ... dealing with those ahead of the autumn statement.
But we’re also very clear that the public should also judge us by our actions and we are forging ahead of many other countries on net zero, for example.
Updated
The Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, said he is “extremely disappointed” that a last-ditch effort to restore the multiparty executive at Stormont failed.
I am extremely disappointed that the Executive has not reformed.
— Chris Heaton-Harris MP (@chhcalling) October 28, 2022
The people of Northern Ireland deserve a fully-functioning devolved government.
(1/2)
Today Stormont could be taking decisions to ease the challenges people face. Instead, the legal duty to act falls to me as Secretary of State.
— Chris Heaton-Harris MP (@chhcalling) October 28, 2022
I will be providing an update on this.
(2/2)
Heaton-Harris, who is expected to call a NI assembly election today, said he will be providing an update. There has been speculation the poll will be held on 15 December.
Updated
So much for party unity ... the former cabinet minister Nadine Dorries has hit back at Jacob Rees-Mogg’s claim that Rishi Sunak is “right not to go” to the Cop27 climate summit.
For balance, my friend…The Prime Minister is WRONG not to go to COP. Global warming is the biggest crisis facing our planet and net zero creates many 1000s of jobs which is good for the economy. COP in Glasgow was most successful ever… but don’t expect media to report that https://t.co/YGkc66wts7
— Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) October 28, 2022
Updated
Sunak 'stressed importance of relationship with France' in call with Macron
Downing Street said Rishi Sunak spoke in a phone call with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, where the prime minister stressed the “importance” he places on the UK’s relationship with its “ally” France.
The pair agreed on a “huge range of areas” on which it is “vital” the nations work together, including Ukraine, climate, defence and the economy, No 10 said.
Sunak also “noted the strong historic and cultural links” between the two countries, “as exemplified by President Macron’s moving words” following the Queen’s death, the statement continued.
A No 10 spokesperson said:
President Macron congratulated him on his appointment and the prime minister stressed the importance he places on the UK’s relationship with France - our neighbour and ally. The leaders agreed that there are a huge range of areas where UK-France cooperation is vital, including on Ukraine, climate, defence and the economy.
The prime minister and President Macron discussed a range of global issues, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They agreed on the importance of continuing to work in support of Ukraine. As people across Europe face a difficult winter, with rising energy costs resulting from Putin’s invasion, the leaders resolved to work together to secure a more stable energy future. This includes increasing cooperation on nuclear energy.
The prime minister stressed the importance for both nations to make the Channel route completely unviable for people traffickers. The leaders committed to deepening our partnership to deter deadly journeys across the Channel that benefit organised criminals.
The prime minister and President Macron looked forward to meeting soon and to holding a UK-France summit next year.
Updated
The former Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg said Rishi Sunak “is right not to go” to the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt next month.
The Prime Minister is right not to go to COP. The cost of living won’t be solved in Sharm el Sheikh where each hotel room for the conference is £2,000 a night.
— Jacob Rees-Mogg (@Jacob_Rees_Mogg) October 28, 2022
Earlier this morning, the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, defended Rishi Sunak’s decision to skip the Cop27 climate summit by arguing that it was not one of the “big political summits”, and that this year’s conference would be more about implementation.
The Guardian’s Damian Carrington points out that implementation is a vital issue and that more than 90 world leaders, including President Joe Biden, are expected to attend the summit next month.
So @theresecoffey defended @RishiSunak not going to #COP27 as it's a "implementation" COP, not target-setting
— Damian Carrington (@dpcarrington) October 28, 2022
1 - implementation is the vital issue now
2 - 90+ world leaders are going
Also says decision whether King Charles goes is his to make#ClimateCrisis @BBCr4today
Updated
The former taoiseach Bertie Ahern said it is a “sad day” for the people of Northern Ireland as they face another election.
Ahern said he believed that the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, had “talked himself into” an election, which he said will not resolve the issues. He said:
Within a few hours, there will be an announcement that the election will be on 15th December. I think it’s a pity, I think it’s a sad day and feel sorry for people in the north because this won’t decide what’s in the protocol.
The only thing that will decide the protocol are the negotiations that are necessary.
He said the UK government needed to learn a bit more about the DUP and its stance on the Northern Ireland protocol. He told RTÉ:
There was no way the DUP were going to change. They have a fixed position and until there’s some solution to what they call the UK internal market, then they’re not going to change their position.
The only way that can be done is negotiations between the European Union and the UK government.
Updated
The environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, said a Northern Ireland assembly election will “definitely happen”, after a deadline to restore devolved government at Stormont was missed.
Coffey said “clearly” there was not “sufficient agreement” among Stormont parties to avoid a fresh election.
The Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, was expected to call the election on Friday, after a last-ditch effort to restore the multi-party executive failed. While he has not yet laid out the details, there has been speculation the poll will be held on 15 December.
Coffey told Sky News it was “regrettable” the parties could not form an executive.
But the law was clear. We passed the legislation that this would happen and clearly there wasn’t sufficient agreement to be able to avoid the elections. That wasn’t in the hands of the [UK] government, that was in the hands of the parties representing the different communities in Northern Ireland.
I hope that the next elections will be an opportunity for people to reconsider their approach, recognising the ‘new decade, new approach’ agreement that was signed only a couple of years ago, and we need to make sure that we do what we can to work together to try and make that come to fruition.
Asked if there was any chance the elections could be avoided through new legislation, she said:
They will definitely happen.
Updated
The Commons Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, said he is expected to receive the report on Monday into accusations of bullying at the chaotic vote on fracking.
Hoyle launched an investigation after allegations were made about Tory MPs being “manhandled” into the government voting lobby.
Asked on Good Morning Britain what he had found out about what happened in the Commons earlier this month, he replied:
On Monday, I will go through [the report] and I will decide and take a view once I’ve read that in-depth report into the behaviour of that night.
Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsey Hoyle reveals he will receive the report on Monday into accusations of bullying at the vote on fracking.
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) October 28, 2022
According to MPs who witnessed the scenes, Tory MPs were bullied and manhandled into backing Liz Truss in a vote on fracking. pic.twitter.com/jsO9w8hHCS
Updated
Truss 'enjoying well-deserved break', says Coffey
More now from the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, who has been doing the morning round of interviews.
She said she believes she does not owe people an apology for the actions of Liz Truss’s government, but that she was “very confident that the financial situation is one of seriousness”.
Her “good friend” Truss is “enjoying a well-deserved break” with her family after having been the UK’s shortest-serving prime minister, Coffey told LBC.
Asked if she felt she should say sorry for the impact on the country’s finances, she said:
I don’t believe I owe an apology to your listeners, no, as much as I don’t think you owe me an apology for keeping me late from the next show.
Updated
Northern Ireland set for snap election after Stormont fails to elect speaker
Northern Ireland is on course for a snap election after a recall of the Stormont assembly failed to elect a speaker and break political deadlock.
The Democratic Unionist party (DUP) blocked an attempt to revive the assembly and executive on Thursday, perpetuating paralysis and running down the clock to a midnight deadline to restore devolved government. The deadline passed without any resolution.
The party rebuffed appeals from the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, business leaders and other parties, saying it had a mandate from its supporters to boycott Stormont unless unionist objections to the post-Brexit Irish Sea border were resolved.
If power sharing is not revived before Friday, by law, caretaker ministers must step down to be replaced by civil servants, and there must be an assembly election within 12 weeks.
Assembly members traded blame over why an assembly election last May had produced seven months of stalemate and the prospect of another poll, probably in December.
Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Féin’s vice-president, said people were “bewildered” and accused the DUP leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, of blocking democracy. “This is his mess, and a failure of leadership by him and his party.”
Naomi Long, the Alliance party leader, said politicians were placing party interests over those of a region where public services were “on their knees”. The Ulster Unionist party (UUP) leader, Doug Beattie, said anger in the chamber was nothing compared with what voters were feeling, adding: “I guess we are all going to feel that anger in the next six or seven weeks.”
The environment secretary Thérèse Coffey said it was up to King Charles whether he attends the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt next month.
Speaking to Sky News, she said she was conscious that the monarch had always taken a “very deep interest” in the environment and climate change. She added:
Of course, it would be up to him to decide how he chooses where to put his priorities in his reign as king.
Environment Secretary @theresecoffey tells Sky News that 'it is up to the King if he wants to attend COP27' following reports that former PM Liz Truss advised King Charles III not to attend the conference in Egypt.https://t.co/1b1s2io0XZ
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 28, 2022
📺 Sky 501, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/wf8qvKOJ1w
Updated
The environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, has continued to defend Rishi Sunak’s decision not to attend the Cop27 climate summit on the morning round of interviews.
Coffey suggested the summit was not one of the “big political summits”, despite a report in the Washington Post that said the US president, Joe Biden, is expected to attend next month. Coffey told LBC radio:
The government has postponed the medium-term fiscal plan until November 17. I know that the prime minister is very keen to work with the chancellor very closely on this important element, and so he’s prioritising that.
While at the same time, of course, the UK continues to show global leadership, as opposed to just a gathering of people in Egypt.
She also told Sky News:
I am not aware of, say, President Biden or President Macron, or any of those other people will be there [in Egypt]. It is quite standard practice that every five years is the big political gathering.
Updated
Coffey defends Sunak’s decision to snub Cop27 climate summit as PM accused of ‘massive failure of leadership’
Good morning. The environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, has defended Rishi Sunak’s decision not to attend the Cop27 climate summit, after the prime minister was accused of a “massive failure of leadership”.
Coffey insisted the climate issue is “very much a priority” for the new government despite Downing Street’s announcement yesterday that Sunak would skip the United Nations climate conference in Egypt next month and instead focus on “pressing domestic commitments”.
No 10 also confirmed the climate minister Graham Stuart and the Cop26 president, Alok Sharma, had been stripped of their cabinet seats.
Speaking on Sky News, Coffey said the “big political” summits take place every five years. She said:
The big push happened last year in Glasgow. I am not aware of, say, President Biden or President Macron or any of those other people will be there. It is quite standard practice that every five years is the big political gathering.
She said “several senior government ministers” will be at the Cop27 summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, adding that she believed she would attend for “a couple of days”.
Asked why PM Rishi Sunak won't be attending COP27, Environment Secretary Therese Coffey says it's "normal" that every five years world leaders come together and adds that she's "not aware" if other world leaders are going to attend eitherhttps://t.co/jUh3qMgZ1n
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 28, 2022
📺 Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/G0q37G5fY7
The shadow climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, said that what Sunak “obviously fails to understand is that tackling the climate crisis isn’t just about our reputation and standing abroad, but the opportunities for lower bills, jobs and energy security it can deliver at home”. He said:
This is a massive failure of climate leadership. We were the Cop26 hosts and now the UK prime minister isn’t even bothering to turn up to Cop27.
The Green MP Caroline Lucas said the announcement by No 10 was “a shameful way to end the UK’s Cop presidency”.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Coffey said:
I think we’re still working out the programme, but there are events that happen for a variety of ministers, whether it’s about energy or water, or the combination with nature.
I think, me personally, I think I’m going to be there for a couple of days. It’s my understanding other ministers will be there because the days in a Cop tend to have themes.
Here is the agenda for the day in Westminster:
09:30am. Latest survey of the social impact of the cost of living, goods shortages and Covid-19, from the Office for National Statistics.
09:30am. Private members’ bills in the House of Commons.
09:30am. Insolvency Service publishes quarterly personal and company insolvency figures.
09:30am. ONS: UK government debt and deficit data.
10am. Private members’ bills in the House of Lords, including a second reading of Tory peer Daniel Alton’s genocide determination bill.
I’m Léonie Chao-Fong and I’ll be taking you through today’s developments in British politics. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
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