Cop26 chief Alok Sharma becomes latest MP planning to step down at next election

Cop26 chief Sir Alok Sharma has become the latest MP to stand down at the next general election. The Conservative MP for Reading West since May 2010, Sir Sharma was notably appointed full-time President for Cop26, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, in January 2021. Between February 2020 and January 2021, he was Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and president for Cop26, previously occupying positions as Secretary of State for International Development and Minister of State for Employment at the Department of Work and Pensions. Sir Alok Sharma speaks onstage during Global Citizen NOW: Climate Sessions 2023 in New York City ‘I have this evening informed my local Conservative Association that I have decided not to stand at the next General Election and therefore do not seek to be adopted as the Conservative candidate for the revised seat of Reading West & Mid Berkshire. This has not been an easy decision for me’, Sir Sharma’s statement read. ‘It has been the honour of my life to serve as the MP for a constituency in the town where I grew up and a privilege to serve in government and represent the UK on the international stage. ‘My grateful thanks to all the constituents, local organisations, charities and businesses I have had the pleasure of working with, since being selected as the parliamentary candidate in 2006, as we have campaigned together on a whole range of issues to make our local area a better place to live and work. ‘I will continue to support my Conservative colleagues and serve my constituents diligently for the remainder of my time as an MP, as well as champion in Parliament the causes I care deeply about, especially climate action.’ The news comes after Sir Sharma criticised Rishi Sunak’s net-zero climbdown last week. In a speech from Downing Street last Wednesday, the prime minister announced a major U-turn by putting back a ban on new fossil fuel cars by five years as he claimed his raft of changes was ‘not about the politics.’ Following the announcement, Sir Sharma told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I think it’d be incredibly damaging for business confidence, for inward investment, if the political consensus that we have forged in our country on the environment and climate action is fractured. ‘And, frankly, I really do not believe that it’s going to help any political party electorally which chooses to go down this path.’