Rishi Sunak will not be attending Cop27 in Egypt next month, Downing Street has said.
Mr Sunak’s predecessor Liz Truss had been planning to attend the UN climate summit in November, but the new Prime Minister has pulled out of attending citing “domestic commitments” ahead of the Autumn Budget.
Downing Street also confirmed climate minister Graham Stuart will no longer be attending Cabinet.
A No 10 spokeswoman on Thursday said that the Prime Minister would not be travelling to the conference in November in part due to preparations for the Autumn Budget on November 17.
She told reporters: “The Prime Minister is not expected to attend Cop27 and this is due to other pressing domestic commitments including preparations for the Autumn Budget.
“The UK will be fully represented by other senior ministers as well as Cop President Alok Sharma.”
This is a massive failure of leadership
We were the COP26 hosts and now the UK PM will be missing in action
What Rishi Sunak fails to understand is that tackling the climate crisis is key to our domestic priorities, including how we get to lower bills, jobs, and energy security https://t.co/zr8aCVZGCW
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) October 27, 2022
Downing Street said the Prime Minister remains “absolutely committed” to supporting the climate conference, denying that the decision to skip the global meeting signalled a downgrading of climate change as a priority.
The spokeswoman said: “It is a recognition of other pressing domestic commitments, not least preparations for the Autumn Budget.”
She said: “We remain committed to net zero and to leading international and domestic action to tackle climate change. The UK is forging ahead of many other countries on net zero.
“We will obviously continue to work closely with Egypt as the hosts of Cop27 and to make sure that all countries are making progress on the historic commitments they made at the Glasgow climate pact.”
It was also confirmed this week that Mr Sharma also lost his seat around Mr Sunak’s Cabinet table.
‘Massive failure of climate leadership’
Labour has accused Rishi Sunak of a “massive failure of climate leadership” after he decided not to attend the Cop27 summit in Egypt.
Shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband 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.
“What Rishi 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.
“A Labour government would put climate at the heart of its agenda for a fairer, greener future here in Britain and around the world, with lower bills and energy security for the UK through our plans for clean power by 2030 and GB Energy to make us a clean energy superpower.”
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