British PM Sunak's travel to Egypt's climate summit still under review

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
31 Oct 2022 21:45

The spokesperson of the British PM says that the earlier announcement of not attending the climate summit in Egypt is still under review.

UK's newly assigned Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesperson announced on Monday that the PM's attendance at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt is still being reviewed after the new Tory leader stated last week that he does not expect to travel to the summit as more urgent domestic matters need to focus on.

The statement added that the decision will be based on progress regarding the budget statement to be delivered on November 17.

"The prime minister is focused on pressing domestic issues, most significantly preparing for the autumn statement, so any attendance at COP would depend on progress on preparation for that fiscal event," the spokesperson said on Monday," he said. "His (Prime Minister) focus is on the domestic issues at the moment, we keep it under review."

Following his announcement last Thursday that he will not attend next month's COP27 UN climate summit in Egypt due to "pressing domestic commitments," newly-appointed Sunak faced condemnation and criticism from opposition politicians and environmentalist organizations.

Last year, the United Kingdom hosted the COP26, stressing the important role that global leaders play as they met last year to discuss climate change against the backdrop of failures to meet carbon reduction targets.

The decision came the same day the United Nations issued warnings that countries' climate pledges are raising the head to a disastrous 2.6 degrees Celsius this century after agreeing on a 1.5 degrees Celsius target last year.

The decision was also followed by Downing Street's barring of COP26 minister Alok Sharma and climate minister Graham Stuart from attending the cabinet.

It's noteworthy that Britain's King Charles III inaugurated new Conservative leader Rishi Sunak as the country's Prime Minister earlier this month, shortly after accepting Liz Truss' resignation, and ordered him to form a government.