World on the brink of ‘catastrophe’ as extreme weather events pile up, UK’s climate chief warns
Urgent action is needed to address climate change or the world will soon face “catastrophe”, the UK’s COP26 chief has warned.
With just 85 days until the climate conference in Glasgow, minister Alok Sharma told the Observer that failing to act would have “catastrophic” consequences.
“I don’t think there’s any other word for it,” said Mr Sharma, who is president of November’s talks.
“You’re seeing on a daily basis what is happening across the world. Last year was the hottest on record, the last decade the hottest decade on record.”
Mr Sharma’s comments come just days before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s leading authority on climate science, publishes a report showing how close humanity is to the brink of a potentially irreversible disaster.
“This is going to be the starkest warning yet that human behaviour is alarmingly accelerating global warming and this is why COP26 has to be the moment we get this right,” he said.
“We can’t afford to wait two years, five years, 10 years – this is the moment.
“I don’t think we’re out of time but I think we’re getting dangerously close to when we might be out of time.
“We will see [from the IPCC] a very, very clear warning that unless we act now, we will, unfortunately, be out of time.”
The UK’s climate minister Alok Sharma says global leaders must get it right at COP26 in November
The consequences of climate change have been evident in recent months, with extreme weather affecting several countries around the world.
In the last month, wildfires have ravaged through southern Europe – forcing thousands from their homes across Greece, Turkey and Italy – and other countries on the continent, notably Germany and Belgium, have experienced devastating flooding.
Elsewhere, Greenville, a Gold Rush town in California, was flattened by fires – and 25 people died after unprecedented rainfall caused severe flooding in China.
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Residents flee Greek island engulfed in flames
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House swept along river in Germany floods
Mr Sharma said that climate change is about people’s lives and “comes down to the very real human impact this is having across the world”.
“I’ve visited communities that as a result of climate change have literally had to flee their homes and move because of a combination of drought and flooding,” he said.
Mr Sharma is tasked with persuading countries including China, India, Russia, Australia and Brazil to make concrete commitments and policies to cut emissions, while trying to persuade the UK, European Union and other wealthy nations to meet a pledge of £100bn a year in climate finance for the developing world.
He has been travelling to several countries to hold talks with key stakeholders ahead of COP26 in November.
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Floodwater surges through Chinese subway
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Wildfire leaves US town burned to ashes
But earlier this week he was criticised by green campaigners and the Labour Party, after it emerged that he had travelled to 30 countries this year – including seven on the red list – and did not self-isolate upon his return home because of a ministerial exemption.
Labour MP David Lammy said the reports of Mr Sharma flying tens of thousands of miles during a pandemic are “worrying” and demonstrate that “it is one rule for them, another for us”.
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Labour on Sharma travel: ‘One rule for them’
But Mr Sharma has defended his trips, saying that he was “throwing the kitchen sink” at efforts to reach a deal.
“I have every week a large number of virtual meetings, but I can tell you that having in-person meetings with individual ministers is incredibly vital and actually impactful,” he said.
“It makes a vital difference, to build those personal relationships which are going to be incredibly important as we look to build consensus.”
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Mr Sharma also told the newspaper that the UK could carry on fossil fuel projects, after criticism over plans to license new oil and gas fields.
Green campaigners have warned that the UK is losing credibility on a world stage after ministers supported the new Cambo oilfield and other North Sea exploration licences were opened earlier this year.
The decisions were made despite warnings from the International Energy Agency, a global energy watchdog, in May that new fossil fuel exploration must cease this year.
But Mr Sharma said new fossil fuel licenses will have climate checks.
He said: “Future [fossil fuel] licences are going to have to adhere to the fact we have committed to go to net-zero by 2050 in legislation. There will be a climate check on any licences.”
Politics
Mark Menzies MP gives up Tory whip amid investigation into claims he misused campaign funds
An MP has lost the Conservative Party whip while newspaper claims about alleged misuse of campaign funds are investigated.
Mark Menzies, the MP for Fylde, disputes the allegations reported by The Times but the Conservative Party is looking into the claims.
A spokesperson for Chief Whip Simon Hart said: “Following a call with the Chief Whip, Mark Menzies has agreed to relinquish the Conservative whip, pending the outcome of an investigation.”
Losing the whip means Mr Menzies is no longer a member of the Conservative parliamentary party and will sit as an independent MP, rather than a Tory MP, in the House of Commons chamber.
In a statement to The Times, Mr Menzies said: “I strongly dispute the allegations put to me. I have fully complied with all the rules for declarations. As there is an investigation ongoing I will not be commenting further.”
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The Conservative Party is investigating allegations made regarding a Member of Parliament. This process is rightfully confidential.
“The party takes all allegations seriously and will always investigate any matters put to them.”
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said earlier on Wednesday that it was “frankly appalling” that the Conservative Party had allegedly been aware of the allegations for more than three months.
“Rishi Sunak must suspend the whip for Mark Menzies immediately, while all the relevant authorities investigate the matter,” she said.
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Mr Menzies has served as the MP for Fylde in Lancashire since May 2010.
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Last week William Wragg, MP for Hazel Grove, Greater Manchester, also gave up the whip after he admitted to The Times that he had given his colleagues’ phone numbers to someone he met on a dating app.
Scotland Yard said it is investigating reports of the so-called “honeytrap” scam after it was suggested at least 12 men in political circles received unsolicited messages, raising security concerns.
Mr Wragg also resigned as vice-chairman of the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers and stepped down from his role heading the Commons’ public administration and constitutional affairs committee.
Politics
Rwanda plan blame game begins over latest delays – with plenty more showdowns to come for Rishi Sunak
This was the week it was meant to be done.
Having forced the House of Commons to vote down the Lords’ amendments to the prime minister’s flagship illegal immigration bill three times, peers would typically have bowed out of the battle this time around and passed the Rwanda bill.
Instead, they sought to amend the legislation again.
Politics latest:
Rwanda bill delayed after government suffers surprise defeats
There is obvious frustration in government, with one senior figure saying: “We wanted to get it done today, but it shows Labour for their true colours.”
The Rwanda bill now comes back to the Commons next week, and could finally be passed on Monday.
All the while, the clock is ticking down on the prime minister‘s promise to get flights away by the end of spring.
With that timetable already in doubt, at least this ping pong can help ministers pin this on peers should that deadline be missed.
But there is also huge frustration amongst some MPs with Number 10.
‘We need to get it through’
Many are asking why the government didn’t just table late night sittings and force Lords to sit into the night to ram through the legislation.
Tory MP Rehman Chishti spoke for many colleagues when he told me he didn’t understand why the whips hadn’t chosen this course.
“I think the programme motion could easily have ensured that we had a vote tomorrow because at the end of day the public want us to get on and get it done. Labour have delayed, dithered, delayed. We’ve got a plan, but we need to get it through,” he said.
“If you would have asked me, I would have put it in tomorrow and I would have a vote on it. And therefore we get those planes off and make sure that this policy delivers what it needs to be delivering, which is deterrence.”
Another senior minister told me it was “clear” to them that these were “delaying tactics because they know the version of the policy doesn’t work and they want more time and to put off the day of reckoning”.
Read more:
Government ‘operationalising’ Rwanda flights
Rwanda enforcement officers told all leave is cancelled
The UK’s Rwanda bill has been delayed again. Pic: AP
Labour ‘terrified it will work’
As Labour blames the government for refusing to compromise on amendments, and “going home” instead of looking again at the bill this evening, the government blames Labour for delaying the bill because – to quote minister Steve Baker – “they are terrified it will work”.
There is talk that had the government accepted the amendment to exempt Afghans who served alongside UK forces from deportation to Rwanda, the Lords might have passed the bill.
Labour had received an assurance from the Home Office that this amendment, tabled by former Labour defence secretary Des Browne, was going to be accepted – only for it then to be blocked.
For all the drama and irritation, it is likely that the prime minister will still have his moment.
At some point, the House of Lords will have to cave. Unelected peers cannot keep ignoring the will of the Commons.
But the question then is whether he can assuage the frustration of voters who are watching the small boats still coming, with the most crossings in a single day this year – 534 people – happening this week.
‘Another failed thing they promised’
In our Sky News election target town of Cleethorpes, part of a key bellwether seat in the next general election, voters we spoke to are sceptical the government will deliver the flights at all.
One resident told us: “They tell you what they think you want to hear but when it comes down to it, they don’t deliver that.”
Another said: “No one’s gone to Rwanda. They get on the plane, and they take them off. So that’s another failed thing they’ve promised.”
And really that’s the rub of it – the prime minister will get this legislation passed.
Then the challenge is to get those planes off the ground. Anything less won’t be acceptable.
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But with even some of his own backbenchers believing the policy won’t work, a parliamentary win is only the end of the beginning.
The next question is will he, if he has to, not just take on the Lords, but take on the European courts – and those in his own cabinet – and if necessary ignore court rulings to get flights away.
There are plenty more showdowns to come.
The House of Lords has delayed the passing of the government’s Rwanda bill until next week – in a blow to Rishi Sunak’s attempts to get planes off the ground deporting illegal migrants to the country.
MPs overturned Tuesday’s attempts by the House of Lords to dilute the plan – but peers have now put forward even more changes to the proposed new law.
It is now expected that the Commons will consider the changes on Monday next week, dashing No 10’s hopes to get it through today.
Downing Street has been unwilling to concede any ground on the areas that peers are trying to amend, including on the treatment of people who served with or for the British armed forces abroad.
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No 10 had set its sights on passing the legislation this week as part of its plans to get planes in the air in the spring.
The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill was tabled last year after the Supreme Court ruled the previous scheme to deport asylum seekers who arrived illegally in the UK was unlawful.
The current bill aims to declare Rwanda safe and not allow courts to consider the safety of the nation during appeals.
This is being done based on a new treaty agreed between the UK government and the government in Rwanda.
Speaking earlier on Wednesday, the prime minister’s spokesperson ruled out doing a deal on any of these changes. “We are not considering concessions,” they said.
“We believe the bill as it stands is the right bill and the quickest way to get flights off the ground.”
Read more:
Beth Rigby analysis: Plenty more showdowns to come as blame game begins
What are the latest amendments suggested by the Lords?
Of the four amendments added on Tuesday, three were tabled by Labour peers and one by a crossbencher.
The proposed changes sought to:
• ensure the bill complies with domestic and international law;
• that Rwanda would not be declared safe until a report was completed;
• that appeals based on safety would be allowed;
• and that exemptions would be allowed for people who served with or for the British armed forces.
Peers want to insist on the amendments about people who assisted the UK’s armed forces, and a report advising on the safety of Rwanda, in particular.
The government was defeated on the first by 245 votes to 208 – a majority of 37, and the second by 247 votes to 195 – a majority of 52.
Labour and crossbench peers – those who do not associate with a political party – worked together to outvote the Conservatives.
A government source told Sky News: “We wanted to get it done today, but it shows Labour for their true colours.”
Responding to the latest defeats, Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker told Sky News that he was “extremely disappointed” with the delays.
He denied the government had “slammed the door” on people like interpreters in Afghanistan who worked with UK armed forces.
But Mr Baker said people wanting to come to the UK who had served with British armed forces had to go through the Ministry of Defence.
“They shouldn’t be travelling with people smugglers illegally across the channel – and that’s what we’ve got to break,” he said.
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Approach to military interpreters ‘shameful’ – Labour
The amendment on people who helped the armed forces has been at the centre of a heated debate – with the government saying it is waiting for a report on the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) before setting out its steps.
But Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Tory MPs just voted to insist that Afghan interpreters who served British armed forces can be sent to Rwanda.
“A scheme which costs £2m per asylum seeker. A £500m plus scheme for less than 1% of asylum seekers. Which now includes those who worked with our troops
“Shameful and shambolic.”
Read more:
Rigby: Rwanda win not automatic victory for PM
Cost of Rwanda scheme could soar to £500m
Johnny Mercer, a former soldier and the government’s veterans minister, replied: “My team have worked night and day to find permanent accommodation for circa 25,000 Afghans who the UK have provided sanctuary to, without you lifting a finger to help.
“We want them to use safe routes, not undertake lethal channel crossings. Your concern is fake.”
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