Whether or not Rishi Sunak will attend COP27 is ‘under review’, No 10 confirms, amid mounting calls for PM to attend Egypt climate summit
Whether or not Rishi Sunak will attend COP27 is “under review”, Downing Street has confirmed – as the PM faces mounting calls to attend the climate conference in Egypt.
Asked if the prime minister will be attending the summit, a Number 10 spokesperson said that “any attendance at COP would depend on progress on preparation for that fiscal event – and that work is ongoing”.
Last week, Downing Street said the PM would not be attending the conference in Sharm el Sheikh next month as he would be preoccupied with “other pressing domestic commitments, including preparations for the autumn budget”.
The spokesperson added: “The prime minister fully recognises the importance of the COP summit and is fully committed to addressing climate change.”
Probed on whether this decision could change, the spokesperson continued: “I think that the prime minister set out that the public would rightly want him to focus on the domestic issues, particularly on restoring fiscal credibility and delivering on a budget that works for the British people.
“There is substantial progress being made on that and so we are keeping the position on COP under review.”
Speaking to broadcasters on a visit to Croydon University Hospital on Friday, Mr Sunak reiterated this, insisting that he must focus on the “depressing domestic challenges” rather than head to the climate conference in Egypt.
But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused Mr Sunak of displaying a “failure of leadership”.
“Britain showing up to work with world leaders is an opportunity to grasp. Not an event to shun,” he posted on social media.
Rebecca Newsom, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, accused Mr Sunak of not taking climate change “seriously enough”.
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PM defends decision not to attend COP27
While, over the weekend, the president of last year’s summit Alok Sharma suggested the PM risks undermining Britain’s position as a world leader on green issues if he shuns the conference.
“I’m pretty disappointed that the prime minister is not going. I understand that he’s got a huge in-tray of domestic issues that he has to deal with,” the government’s climate tsar told The Sunday Times.
“But I would say that going to COP27 would allow for engagement with other world leaders. And I think it does send a signal – if the prime minister was to go – about our renewed commitment on this issue.”
Mr Sharma, who lost his cabinet seat in the latest reshuffle, will also be there, along with US president Joe Biden and America’s special envoy on climate change, John Kerry.
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A spokesperson for the Scottish government last week confirmed First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is planning to attend COP27.
“Given the vital importance of governments working together to tackle climate change, it is the first minister’s intention to attend COP27,” the spokesperson said on Friday.
“Details of the ministerial programme are currently being finalised.”
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Prime Minister should be at COP
Mr Sunak’s predecessor Liz Truss had been due to attend the summit which is due to take place from 6 to 18 November.
New Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn budget – in which he will set out his government’s tax and spending plans – will be delivered on 17 November.
It has been reported that former PM Boris Johnson is planning to attend the summit to show his support for international efforts to tackle climate change.
Last week, Environment Secretary Therese Coffey defended Mr Sunak’s decision not to go to COP27, insisting that protecting the planet was “absolutely a priority for the government”.
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Environment secretary defends Sunak’s COP snub
While former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg said the PM was right not to go to the summit, saying: “The cost of living won’t be solved in Sharm el Sheikh where each hotel room for the conference is £2,000 a night.”
But signalling a potential U-turn earlier on Monday, environment minister Mark Spencer told Sky News that Mr Sunak would go to COP27 “if he’s got time”, adding that the prime minister has “an inbox which is full to the brim”.
Meanwhile, on Sunday it was announced that King Charles will host a reception for key COP27 figures at Buckingham Palace on Friday, despite not attending the conference himself.
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The King, who has been a passionate campaigner on environmental issues, will host the event which will bring together over 200 international business leaders, decision makers and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) to mark the end of the United Kingdom’s presidency of COP26 and look ahead to the COP27 summit in Egypt.
The King has attended the UN climate conference for a number of years and delivered one of the keynote speeches at the opening ceremony for COP26 in Glasgow – but will not be going to Sharm el Sheikh.
Guests at the King’s Buckingham Palace reception will include Mr Sunak, who is expected to speak briefly at the event.
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Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
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