PMQs: Miliband urges “climate delivery, not climate delay” at COP26 summit

As Keir Starmer is self-isolating following a positive Covid test, Ed Miliband stood in for the Labour leader this afternoon. The leadership had always planned to focus on the COP26 climate summit soon being hosted in Glasgow, which made the Shadow Energy Secretary the obvious choice. “COP26 is not a glorified photo opportunity. It is a fragile and complex negotiation, and the problem is the Prime Minister’s ‘boosterism’ won’t cut carbon emissions in half, photo opportunities won’t cut carbon emissions in half,” the self-professed climate “nerd” told Boris Johnson today.

Miliband used the session to stress the urgency of the conference. “He mustn’t shift the goalposts when it comes to Glasgow. It is about the emergency we face this decade,” he warned. “Keep the focus on 2030, not 2050 and beyond.” Asked, however, whether he realises how far we are from reaching our net-zero target, Johnson said the world had agreed a target of net zero by 2100 in the Paris agreement. Miliband pointed out that this is in fact wrong; the agreement committed to doing so by “the second half of this century”. Highlighting the crux of the problem, Miliband stressed that it is easy to make promises for 30 years’ time but “much harder to act now”.

Johnson is undermining his own COP26 presidency, the opposition argued. The former Labour leader highlighted that the Prime Minister is flirting with a new coal mine in Cumbria, allowing the Cambo oil field development and cutting aid spending. Johnson argued that the “commitments are coming through”, but that the world “can’t go in advance of what is truly practicable”. He then said Labour’s plans on the climate emergency – which he said included confiscating cars and restricting people to one flight every five years – had been “overruled” by its “paymasters”, the GMB trade union. He also insisted that the government has not cut aid budgets and is instead “keeping that investment”.

While the whole labour movement will be sending its best wishes to a Covid-positive Starmer, and the Labour leader will be disappointed to be missing the sessions today, the last-minute replacement of Miliband – an expert on the climate emergency – was not a disadvantage for Labour, coming days before the international summit. The frontbencher performed well, showing his deep knowledge of the subject, landing some punchy blows and outlining well the significance of COP26. “We need more than warm words,” he told the Prime Minister. “Above all, Glasgow has got to be a summit of climate delivery, not climate delay.”