‘Up to’ King Charles whether to attend Cop27, says Coffey – live

Jump to contentSign up to our newslettersSubscribeNewsSportsVoicesCultureLifestyleTravelPremiumCloseRishi Sunak not attending Cop27 is ‘standard practice’, says Therese CoffeyIt is ‘up to’ King Charles whether or not he attends the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt, environment secretary Therese Coffey has said, after former prime minister Liz Truss reportedly told the new monarch to stay away.Her successor in No 10, Rishi Sunak, has now been accused of a ‘massive failure of climate leadership’ after announcing he would not attend the event himself, on the same day the UN warned there remains ‘no credible’ pathway in place to rein in global temperature rises to 1.5C.But Ms Coffey defended the PM by insisting it is ‘standard practice’ for the ‘big political’ Cop events to take place every five years, claiming the ‘UK continues to show global leadership, as opposed to just a gathering of people in Egypt’.The row came as the Daily Telegraph reported that Mr Sunak and chancellor Jeremy Hunt were considering either increasing the government’s windfall tax on energy companies or expanding it to include renewable energy firms in a bid to plug Britain’s multi-billion pound fiscal black hole.1666949060Former energy secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg has said that Rishi Sunak ‘is right not to’ attend the Cop27 climate summit, claiming that the cost of ‘each hotel room for the conference is £2,000 a night’.The cost of accommodation at the conference has been the subject of consternation among attendees and activists, and the Egyptian government previously negotiated a $120 (£105) price cap for two-star hotels and announced cheaper accommodation in recent weeks.Andy Gregory28 October 2022 10:241666948184Therese Coffey has denied that Conservative MPs were physically pressured to ensure they voted against a Labour motion on fracking.Asked about claims she was involved in chaotic and ‘quite ugly’ scenes at Westminster last week, where a group of senior Tories were accused of pressuring colleagues to go into the ‘no’ lobby, she told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘I don’t accept that at all. And frankly, you know, I’m not going to dwell on these things.’People have posted things I believe to be libellous. What I did is to vote for the government on that day, in terms of what had been turned into, effectively, a vote of confidence, by shenanigans by the Labour Party.’Pressed on whether she ‘manhandled’ anyone, Dr Coffey said: ‘Absolutely not.’Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has said those investigating the alleged events are due to report back to him on Monday.Andy Gregory28 October 2022 10:091666946588In this morning’s interview round, Therese Coffey has been defending Rishi Sunak’s decision not to attend the crucial Cop27 climate summit, on the basis that the ‘big political’ gatherings happen every five years.Our climate correspondent Saphora Smith reports that, traditionally, the United Nations has required countries to submit climate targets every five years including ahead of the Glasgow summit last year where world leaders gathered to pledge how they would contribute to action on climate change.However, as the climate crisis progresses more urgency and emphasis are being put on each annual summit with countries agreeing in Glasgow to update and strengthen their climate targets in 2022, rather than waiting another five years.The Environment Secretary said it was ‘standard practice’ for world leaders to attend the ‘big political’ gatherings every five yearsAndy Gregory28 October 2022 09:431666945883Therese Coffey has continued her defence of Rishi Sunak’s decision not to attend the crucial Cop27 climate summit, insisting that the ‘UK continues to show global leadership, as opposed to just a gathering of people in Egypt’.’The politically big significant things happen every five years,’ the environment secretary told LBC.’The government has postponed the medium term fiscal plan until 17 November, I know that the prime minister is very keen to work with the chancellor very closely on this important element, and so he’s prioritising that.’While at the same time, of course, the UK continues to show global leadership, as opposed to just a gathering of people in Egypt.’Andy Gregory28 October 2022 09:311666945049Downing Street aides are claimed to have feared that Liz Truss could ‘be done in for lying’ to parliament and face a Commons probe alongside her predecessor Boris Johnson, after she told MPs she was ‘not planning public spending reductions’.According to a new biography of the nation’s shortest-serving PM, serialised in The Sun, the claim sparked panic among some No 10 aides, who knew that soaring inflation would mean real-term spending cuts even though spending should technically increase.The comments came after the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) reportedly told her soon-to-be sacked chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng that their mini-Budget had torn a £72bn black hole in the nation’s finances.Andy Gregory28 October 2022 09:171666944543Liz Truss is claimed to have given up on her disastrous mini-Budget after a ‘terrible’ day in which Treasury officials warned her that the City of London would be reduced ‘to rubble’.'[James] Bowler, all the Treasury officials, [cabinet secretray Simon] Case, they all sat around the cabinet table and said to the PM: ‘Unless you junk [your plans for] corporation tax, we are going to have the most catastrophic meltdown; it will take 20 years to recover’,’ a No 10 source told the authors of an upcoming biography.’They scared the s**t out of her basically.’While Ms Truss initially ‘railed against’ what she considered a Bank of England and Treasury ‘stitch-up’, she is claimed to have later confessed privately: ‘The problem is that the last time I ignored all these people they were right’.According to a serialisation in The Sun of the upcoming book Out Of The Blue, a No10 aide involved in the discussions said: ‘Thursday 13th was terrible. They said the pound was basically going to crash to such a level that we would struggle to sell our debt, in the way a third-world country does.’Basically, Britain was going to become like rubble. It was impossible to know who to believe at this stage.’Andy Gregory28 October 2022 09:091666942906The security services still trust newly-reinstated home secretary Suella Braverman, a security source has said – despite her mishandling of sensitive documents and embroilment in another leak inquiryThe home secretary will still be receiving intelligence briefings from MI5 despite ex-Home Secretary Lord Blunkett and a host of Tory MPs speaking out with concerns over her reappointment just six days after she resigned for sending sensitive government information via her personal email account.A security source told the Times that it was ‘completely untrue’ that MI5 could withhold information from the Home Secretary and said they had ‘a strong and trusted working relationship’, adding: ‘She will continue to receive regular intelligence briefings.’Our policy correspondent Jon Stone has the full report:Home Secretary will still get top secret briefings Andy Gregory28 October 2022 08:411666941690Pressed on her claim – in defence of Rishi Sunak’s snub – that the ‘big political’ Cop summits generally take place every five years, environment secretary Therese Coffey said that ‘the annual meetings have always been important’.’This year in particular we’re seeing also the convention on nature, it’s called the Convention on Biodiversity [Convention on Biological Diversity], as well as one on the illegal trade of endangered species. So there’s a number of different things coming together, so it’s an important year for the environment,’ she told Sky News.’We have held the presidency for the last year, and it’s important that we hand that over for now to Egypt. But we will continue to do as we are doing, working towards different ways of how we meet our carbon budget domestically, but also our support that we give around the world to different countries.’She added: ‘And we certainly showed leadership last year when we really set ourselves challenging targets.’Andy Gregory28 October 2022 08:211666940850Therese Coffey has refused to be drawn on reports suggesting that Rishi Sunak expand the windfall tax on energy companies – potentially to include renewables firms.The environment secretary told Sky News: ‘I’m sure that he is working with his chancellor Jeremy Hunt to explore all the different elements in the run-up to the medium-term fiscal plan, which has been put back by a couple of weeks.’Pressed on whether she would like to see this happen, she said: ‘I think I’m not going to get into a discussion about tax because that really is a matter for the chancellor and the prime minister.’Andy Gregory28 October 2022 08:071666940417Liz Truss is ‘enjoying a well-deserved break’ after becoming the UK’s shortest-serving prime minister, her former deputy and close political ally Therese Coffey has said.’I have of course been in touch with Liz. She’s a good friend,’ Ms Coffey told Sky News. ‘She’s with her family. I think she’s enjoying a well-deserved break.’Andy Gregory28 October 2022 08:00Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalismBy registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalistsAlready have an account? sign inRegistration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalismBy registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalistsAlready have an account? sign inRishi SunakCop27Jeremy HuntLiz TrussBoris JohnsonRishi Sunak is under fire over his decision to attend the Cop27 climate summitJustin Tallis/AFP via Getty ImagesPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in