UK ‘really not taking the lead at all’ on climate action after dropped trade commitments revealed
Boris Johnson’s government has reneged on key promises it has made in the efforts to combat climate change, according to one of the most senior Conservative environmentalists.
The Tory chair of the Climate Change Committee – which advises the government on tackling global warming – has condemned the decision by ministers to give into Australian demands to water down environmental protections in the UK-Australia trade deal.
Earlier on Wednesday, Sky News published a leaked government email that revealed Liz Truss, the international trade secretary, and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng decided the government could “drop both of the climate asks” from the text of the trade deal.
The PM with his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison in June
Among the areas to be removed was “a reference to Paris Agreement temperature goals”, with the revelation coming less than two months before the UK hosts the COP26 international climate change summit in Glasgow.
Sky News understands the treaty text will contain a reference to Paris, but the reference to specific temperature commitments is disappearing.
This was bitterly condemned by Tory peer Lord Deben, the chairman of the Climate Change Committee, an independent body advising the government on its climate targets.
As the MP John Gummer, he was an environment secretary in Sir John Major’s government.
Lord Deben told Sky News the change agreed by Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng “mattered enormously”.
“The government promised that they would not do any of those things, and listen to ministers in the House of Lords saying that, and so it’s to go back on all the promises that they’ve made,” he said.
“If we’re not prepared to hang our hat on the Paris Agreement, to which we have put our solemn promise, and which we have put by law into action in this country, when we are dealing with Australia, which is one of the recalcitrant nations, one of the countries that’s not doing what it ought to do, then really we are not taking the lead at all and to do this at a time before COP26 is very serious.”
Asked why keeping broad commitments to the Paris climate change agreement was not enough, Lord Deben replied: “We just have to stick to this, the moment you make it woolly and not certain… why do you think the Australians ask for it?
“It’s because the Australians will not commit themselves, they are large exporters of coal, they are destroying your climate and my climate and they have to come back to the world stage and work with the rest of us.”
Government sources confirmed that the references to temperature are now “implicit” rather than spelt out in the text of the trade treaty.
This is different from the UK-EU trade deal where the temperature commitments are explicitly in the deal.
The UK government will argue that it has nevertheless secured a “win” on climate by referencing the Paris Agreement in the text of the treaty, the first time this has happened in an Australian trade deal.
The 11th hour change comes three months after Mr Johnson and Scott Morrison, his Australian counterpart, announced they had come to an in-principle agreement over a trade deal.
Both the Australian and UK government played down the significance of the leaked email, which reveals ministers agreed to drop specific climate change temperature targets.
However Sky News talked to a leading Australian politician who made clear that this was an important red line to secure a deal.
Matt Cavanan, the Queensland senator and a former resources minister in the Australian government, said it was right the UK had dropped the requirement from the deal.
“We have always separated our trade policy settings from the domestic policy concerns or priorities of other countries,” he said.
“That’s for them to decide and we’ve always respected other countries to do that.
“I welcome the fact the UK is recognising we are no longer a colony of the UK. The UK does not get to decide what policies are put in place here in Australia.”
Mr Cavanan made clear his scepticism about the Paris Agreement.
“Keep in mind the Paris Agreement is non-binding, it’s not law, it did not go through the US Senate,” he added.
“It was not considered a treaty – it’s an aspirational agreement a bunch of countries signed up to. There was no law that passed through the Australian parliament to give effect to Paris targets.
“I didn’t go to Paris commitment negotiations, I am not going to Glasgow later this year, I won’t be bound by anything discussed at those conferences, I represent the people who vote me in to the Australian parliament.
“Those are the views I resect and am committed to as a senator.”
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The email seen by Sky News was sent last month and reveals details about the internal government discussion over the UK-Australia trade deal involving Ms Truss, Mr Kwarteng and Lord Frost, the Brexit minister who also co-ordinates cross-government positions on trade issues.
The email comes from a senior official, a deputy director, in the “trade secretariat” part of the Cabinet Office.
He writes: “As flagged in my note to Lord Frost, the business and trade secretaries were due to speak yesterday.
“We haven’t yet seen the formal read out, but we understand the conversation took place and the business secretary has agreed that, in order to get the Australia FTA over the line, DIT can drop both of the climate asks (ie on precedence of Multilateral Environmental Agreements over FTA provisions and a reference to Paris Agreement temperature goals).”
One member of the government’s Strategic Trade Advisory Group, Matthew Kilcoyne, said the change was only for Australian domestic political reasons.
Mr Kilcoyne, deputy director of the Adam Smith Institute, told Sky News: “The final text no longer makes reference to 1.5 degrees, but it makes reference explicitly to the Paris Agreement which does make explicit reference to that 1.5 degrees, and it holds Australia to that.
“So it’s the first time actually that Australia has ever signed up to an agreement of the Paris Agreement in an international trade treaty, and it proves actually that the UK government is holding them to account.
“And we know that the UK government wants to go further than that, because that’s why they’re holding COP26 in Glasgow in a few months’ time – it is really quite an important document mentioning Paris in the first place.
“The fact that it doesn’t mention 1.5, it really is neither here nor there.”
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Politics
Angela Rayner admits she should have paid more stamp duty on flat purchase – and considered resigning
Angela Rayner has admitted she did not pay the right amount of stamp duty on the purchase of her second home and has referred herself to the independent adviser on ministerial standards.
Speaking to Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the deputy prime minister became tearful as she claimed she received incorrect tax advice and spoke to her family about “packing it all in”.
Ms Rayner, who is also the housing secretary, has been under scrutiny after a report in The Daily Telegraph claimed she avoided £40,000 in stamp duty on a flat in Hove by removing her name from the deeds of another property in Greater Manchester.
In a lengthy statement released today, she said it was a “complex living arrangement” as her first home was sold to a trust following her divorce to provide stability for her teenage son, who has lifelong disabilities and is the sole beneficiary of the trust.
She said initial legal advice was that the standard rate of stamp duty applied, but following media reports, she sought expert counsel who said more tax is due.
She added that these matters were confidential but she applied to a court yesterday to get this lifted in the interests of public transparency.
In a subsequent interview with Beth Rigby, a visibly upset Ms Rayner said: “I’ve been in shock, really, because I thought I’d done everything properly, and I relied on the advice that I received and I’m devastated because I’ve always upheld the rules and always have felt proud to do that.
“That it is devastating for me and the fact that the reason why those confidential clauses were in place was to protect my son, who, through no fault of his own, he’s vulnerable, he’s got this life changing, lifelong conditions and I don’t want him or anything to do with his day-to-day life, to be subjected to that level of scrutiny.”
Asked if she thought about quitting rather than disclose the details about her son, the cabinet minister added: “I spoke to my family about it. I spoke to my ex-husband, who has been an incredibly supportive person because he knows that all I’ve done is try and support my family and help them.”
Allies jump to Rayner’s defence
Her comments came shortly before the first PMQs following the summer recess. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir Starmer should fire his deputy.
“If he had backbone, he would sack her,” she said.
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Starmer defends Rayner amid calls for sacking
However, the prime minister defended Ms Rayner, saying he is “very proud” to sit alongside her.
“She’s gone over and above in setting out the details, including yesterday afternoon asking a court to lift a confidentiality order in relation to her own son,” the prime minister said.
“I am very proud to sit alongside a deputy prime minister who is building 1.5m homes, who is bringing the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation, and has come from a working-class background to become deputy prime minister of this country.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey also came out in support of Ms Rayner, saying as the parent of a disabled child himself he trusts that she was acting in her family’s interests.
“I understand it is normally the role of opposition leaders to jump up and down and call for resignations – as we’ve seen plenty of from the Conservatives already,” he said.
“Obviously if the ethics advisor says Angela Rayner has broken the rules, her position may well become untenable.
“But as a parent of a disabled child, I know the thing my wife and I worry most about is our son’s care after we have gone, so I can completely understand and trust that the deputy prime minister was thinking about the same thing here.
“Perhaps now is a good time to talk about how we look after disabled people and how we can build a more caring country.”
Ms Rayner was also backed by Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, who told Sky News’ chief political correspondent Jon Craig that he thinks attacks against her are driven by a “heavy dose of misogyny”.
He said: “Angela Rayner comes under sustained coverage because she’s a working-class woman in a way that frankly Nigel Farage, leading members of the shadow cabinet, never would.
“I think there’s a real heavy dose of misogyny when it comes to Angela. As far as I’m concerned, the prime minister’s got faith in her and I think the country’s got faith in her as well.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting also came to her defence, telling BBC Radio 5 Live that she acted in “good faith” and it would be an “absolutely travesty” if she had to resign.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defended Angela Rayner in PMQs. Pic: PA
Key points from Rayner statement
In her statement, Ms Rayner said that following the divorce from her husband in 2023, they agreed to a nesting arrangement where their children would remain in their family home, in Ashton-under-Lyne, while they alternated living there.
She said she sold her interest in that home to a trust earlier this year, before buying the property in Hove.
Angela Rayner arrived in Downing Street for Cabinet on Tuesday. Pic: PA
The trust was originally set up in 2020 to manage a payment to one of her sons after a “deeply personal and distressing incident” as a premature baby that left him with lifelong disabilities
The home had been adapted for her son and the sale to the trust was to give him “the security of knowing the home is his”, Ms Rayner said.
She went on to say that she did not own any other home when she bought the flat in Hove, and her understanding “on advice from lawyers, was that my circumstances meant I was liable for the standard rate of stamp duty”.
She added: “However, given the recent allegations in the press I have subsequently sought further advice from a leading tax counsel to review that position and to ensure I am fully compliant with all tax provisions.
“I have now been advised that although I did not own any other property at the time of the purchase, the application of complex deeming provisions which relate to my son’s trust gives rise to additional stamp duty liabilities.”
Ms Rayner said she is working with HMRC to establish what is owed, claiming her arrangements “reflect the reality that family life is rarely straightforward”.
She concluded: “I deeply regret the error that has been made. I am committed to resolving this matter fully and providing the transparency that public service demands.
“It is for that reason I have today referred myself to the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards, and will provide him with my fullest cooperation and access to all the information he requires.”
Watch and listen to the full Electoral Dysfunction interview on Wednesday afternoon – www.podfollow.com/electoraldysfunction
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