Sunak ‘dragged kicking and screaming’ to Cop27 after attendance U-turn, says Labour

‘The guy is a phoney’, says Ed Miliband

Rishi Sunak at Cop26 in Glasgow. He said he would not attend this year’s summit in Egypt, then changed his mind at the last minute (PA)

Rishi Sunak has been accused of having been "dragged kicking and screaming" to agree to attend the United Nation’s Cop27 summit, Labour has said.

The prime minister made a U-turn on Wednesday morning, stating that he would now go to the conference in Sharm el Sheikh, in Egypt, after previously saying he would not go.

Mr Sunak had said he would stay in the UK to focus on the new government’s upcoming budget.

However, his decision not to attend led to international outcry, while pressure in the UK grew as King Charles announced a Cop27 reception at Buckingham Palace ahead of the conference, and also after former prime minister Boris Johnson said he was planning to attend the summit.

In parliament, Labour’s Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary for climate change and net zero, attacked the government’s record.

He said: "We’re way off track from meeting our climate targets. The net zero strategy was ruled unlawful. The PM sacks the Cop president, and all this when the UN is telling us we are heading for 2.8C of Global warming.

"Isn’t it the case Mr Speaker, that this year began with a prime minister which made grand promises which haven’t been fulfilled, and ends with one who has to be dragged kicking and screaming even to turn up?"

Mr Miliband’s withering assessment came as he asked the government’s minister for climate, Graham Stewart, whether Mr Sunak’s government would uphold Liz Truss’s government’s plans to allow greater levels of onshore wind projects to be given planning permission.

Mr Sunak had campaigned against onshore wind over the summer during his first, failed effort to win the backing of the Conservative Party to replace Mr Johnson as leader.

Mr Stewart failed to confirm the plans for dropping what effectively amounts to a ban on onshore wind, as Ms Truss, and her energy secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg had suggested.

"We are working to ensure the speedy take up of a whole range of technologies in order to ensure we can deliver the net zero target," Mr Stewart said.

Mr Miliband responded: "It is a mad world when a new government makes the honourable member for North East Somerset (Mr Rees-Mogg) look like an eco warrior. He was in favour of lifting the ban."

Mr Sunak’s U-turn on attending Cop27 draws further attention to the scale of the government’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis – something already under heightened scrutiny due to the cost of living crisis and the government’s fossil-fuel-heavy response to addressing soaring energy prices.

On Wednesday Mr Sunak tweeted: “There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change. There is no energy security without investing in renewables.”

He added: “That is why I will attend Cop27 next week: to deliver on Glasgow’s legacy of building a secure and sustainable future.”

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said Mr Sunak’s U-turn was "embarassing", while Mr Miliband branded the prime minister a "phoney".

“Sunak on Thursday: I can’t possibly go to Cop. Sunak six days later: I can’t possibly not go to Cop. The guy is a phoney,” he said.